Euthanasia Law to be Implemented in Spain Today

TODAY, June 25, the Organic Law for the regulation of Euthanasia, approved in March in the Congress of Deputies, comes into force in Spain, and which establishes that this practice may be carried out to patients who request it and who are in certain situations. Specifically, this practice may be carried out to patients who are in a context of “serious, chronic and incapacitating illness or serious and incurable disease, causing intolerable suffering”.

As reported by Malaga Hoy, after the first request, the responsible doctor will inform the patient about their diagnosis, therapeutic possibilities and expected results, as well as about possible palliative care, making sure that they understand the information that is provided. After that, the patient must confirm their intention.

After the second request, there should be a new meeting between the two. It will be this doctor who will authorise the process, first, they have to ask the opinion of a doctor trained in the “field of pathologies suffered by the patient” but who is not from the “same team as the doctor.” Likewise, the regional evaluation commission must choose two experts, one being a lawyer, to evaluate the case.

Both experts must agree on their decision, since, otherwise, it will be the full committee who will make the final call. Similarly, this text states that health professionals directly involved in this provision “may exercise their right to conscientious objection,” an objection that “must be stated in advance and in writing.”

According to the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) has approved the protocol for the assessment of de facto incapacity for euthanasia, which will govern the procedure that doctors must follow in situations in which the patient is not in the use of their faculties and cannot make the necessary requests themselves.