Spanish parliament passes landmark voluntary euthanasia law

Terminally ill patients may be allowed to request euthanasia by April 2021

Landmark legislation allowing voluntary euthanasia for terminally ill patients enduring extreme physical or mental suffering was passed in the Spanish parliament on Thursday, and those backing the bill are optimistic that the new law could come into force within three months.

The proposed law was passed by 198 votes to 138 with 2 abstentions and sets out the conditions under which patients will be permitted to receive assistance in ending their lives. With the necessary seal of approval from the Senate, the upper house of parliament, almost certain to be forthcoming, it is expected that euthanasia in Spain will become a legal reality by April, representing what Salvador Illa, the Minister for Health, describes as a victory for “common sense and humanity”.

On the other hand, during the parliamentary debate on Thursday José Ignacio Echániz of the PP party described the Bill as “unconstitutional, inopportune, frivolous and unfair”, concluding that the new law is “a defeat for everyone”, while the Vox party view it as a licence to sign death sentences; both have expressed strong opposition to the new measure.

Among the conditions in which euthanasia is to be allowed it is specified that the patient must request the procedure at least twice on separate occasions at least 15 days apart, voluntarily and having been made fully aware of their medical diagnosis and prognosis. The patient must also be fully informed not only of the procedure involved in euthanasia, but of alternative end-of-life care options including palliative treatment.

The medical condition suffered must be serious, incurable and the cause of constant and “intolerable” mental or physical suffering, or chronic and disabling pain which affects the patient’s physical and mental independence. In addition, it must be established that there is no possibility of the condition of the patient being improved or cured.

In cases involving completely incapacitated patients, including those who are unconscious or in coma, a written document such as a will, signed when the patient was in a fit state to do so while aware of its contents, must be produced, showing explicitly the patient’s desire to be given euthanasia.

The entire procedure must be supervised and certified by a senior doctor who in turn must receive the opinion of another consultant doctor, and the relevant reports and decisions will need to be ratified by the Evaluation and Monitoring Committees which are to be established in each of Spain’s 17 regions, a process which is expected to take around two weeks.

Once the procedure of euthanasia has been fully authorized it can be administered either in hospital or at the patient’s home, always in the presence of the medical staff supervising it. Medical staff are to be allowed to opt out of participating as conscientious objectors.