The new law on euthanasia in Spain is in force today, which has become the seventh country in the world to decriminalize aid to die for people suffering from certain types of serious and incurable diseases. The law, launched last March, provided for a period of three months to allow the regions of the Iberian country to create the bodies responsible for evaluating requests for access to this right, the guarantee commissions. However, not all of them have already done so. As reported by the Iberian media, experts in this matter say that there are still several doubts about how the new law will be applied. In particular, one of the most discussed points is that of conscientious objecting doctors: in some regions, lists of health professionals opposed to applying euthanasia have been created, but there are those who criticize this strategy, arguing that in this way some could be pushed to register a priori and instead it would be better if the reflection on the objection took place case by case.
The Popular Party, leader formation of the opposition to the center-left government, and Vox, the ultra-right party, have filed an appeal against the new law with the Constitutional Court. It is not yet clear when the court will rule on this. The law, approved after years of civil battle by family members of people suffering from incurable diseases and associations that support them, establishes that euthanasia (death directly induced by a health professional) or assisted suicide (i.e. self-induced death thanks to a drug prescribed by a doctor) may be requested by people suffering from a “serious and incurable” disease or a “serious, chronic and disabling” pathology, which cause “unbearable suffering”.
It will be the national health system to offer this service, to which those who have lived in Spain for at least 12 months will be entitled. The process of giving the green light to help die will take about five weeks. The patient must give his consent on four occasions and at least two doctors unrelated to the case must authorize the request.
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