Spain's euthanasia law (Part I)
ON March 24, the Spanish Congress approved the law regulating euthanasia.
We do not intend to enter into ethical or moral considerations in this article but only to provide information about a law that has just been approved.
Etymologically euthanasia means ‘good death’ and can be defined as ‘the deliberate act of ending a person's life, due to the specific will of the person themselves with the aim of avoiding suffering’.
The purpose of this law is to regulate the right entitled to every person who meets the required conditions to request and receive the necessary help to die as well as the established procedure and guarantees.
Likewise, it defines the duties of the sanitary staff who care for these people, defining their framework of action, and regulates the obligations of the competent public administrations and institutions to ensure the correct exercise of the right recognized by this law.
Who is entitled to request assistance to die?
1. Any person who meets the requirements established by this law to request and receive assistance to die is recognized.
2. The decision of requesting assistance to die must be an autonomous decision, understood as the one based on the knowledge about the medical process, after having been adequately informed by the responsible healthcare team. The clinical history must show that the information has been received and understood by the patient.
3. In the procedures regulated in this law, the means and resources of support, material and human will be guaranteed, including the universal accessibility and design measures and the reasonable adjustments that are necessary for the persons requesting assistance to die, to receive information, the way to express their will, to give their consent and to communicate freely, so that their decision is individual, mature and genuine, without interference or undue influence.
What are the requirements to receive assistance to die?
1. In order to receive the benefit of assistance, the person must meet all of the following requirements:
a) To hold Spanish nationality or legal residence in Spain or a registration certificate proving a stay of more than twelve months in the Spanish territory, to be of legal age, to be capable and conscious at the time of the application.
b) To have in writing the existing information about the medical process, the different alternatives and possibilities of action, including that of accessing comprehensive palliative care included in the common portfolio of services and the benefits that one is entitled to in accordance with the regulations of attention to dependency.
c) To have made two voluntary written requests, or by other means that permit a record, and not have made them as a result of any external pressure, leaving a period of at least fifteen calendar days between the two.
If the responsible doctor considers that the loss of the applicant's ability to grant informed the consent is imminent, he or she will be able to accept any shorter period deemed appropriate based on the clinical circumstances, which should be present in the medical record.
d) To be suffering from a serious and incurable disease or a serious, chronic and incapacitating condition in the terms established in this law, certified by the responsible doctor.
e) To give informed consent prior to receive the aid to die. Such consent will be incorporated into the patient's medical history.
2. The requirements of letters b), c) and e) of the previous section will not be applicable in those cases in which the responsible doctor certifies that the patient is not in full use of his or her faculties nor can he freely agree, voluntary and conscious to make the requests, comply with the provisions of section 1.d), and have previously signed a prior instructions document, leaving a will, advance directives or legally recognized equivalent documents, in which case the assistance may provide help to die in accordance with the provisions of said document. In the case of having appointed a representative in that document, he or she will be the valid interlocutor for the responsible doctor.