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News > Spain

Spain's Parliament To Approve Law Regulating Euthanasia

  • Patient receives palliative care at home, Malaga, Spain.

    Patient receives palliative care at home, Malaga, Spain. | Photo: Twitter / @Obioetica

Published 17 March 2021
Opinion

Before the procedure is performed by a health professional, however, the applicant must be duly informed about different alternatives of palliative care.

After overcoming opposition from right-wing groups, the Spanish Lower House is set to finally pass a law decriminalizing euthanasia.

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On Thursday, the plenary will decide on the partial amendments incorporated by the Senate into the law. After that, the law will take effect in three months at the most.

The law establishes that Physician Aid-In-Dying (PAD) may be requested by persons of legal age who suffer from a serious, chronic, incurable, and incapacitating illness, which affects their autonomy and generates constant and intolerable physical or psychological suffering.

The citizen will be able to receive euthanasia about five weeks after requesting it. Before the procedure is performed by a health professional, however, the applicant must be duly informed about different alternatives of palliative care.

An "Assurance and Evaluation Commission" will review each euthanasia application and monitor that applicants have confirmed their will to die at least four times throughout the process.

Medical assistance in dying may be provided either at the patient's home or in health centers. The law grants health professionals the right to conscientious objection.

Spain will become the seventh country to legalize euthanasia after Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Colombia, Canada, and New Zealand. Both the far-right VOX party and Popular Party (PP), however, announced that they will challenge the law before the Constitutional Court.

“Almost 90 percent of Spaniards are in favor of decriminalizing the practice, according to a 2019 opinion poll. But for now, helping someone end their life carries a jail term of up to 10 years,” Reuters recalled.

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