Spain is the fifth country in Europe to legalize assisted suicide * and euthanasia * for patients suffering greatly from incurable diseases and people with permanent intolerable conditions.
Euthanasia: A doctor is legally allowed to end a person's life in a painless way, as long as the patient and their family agree.
Assisted Suicide: A doctor helps a patient commit suicide as a result of unbearable medical conditions if they request it.
The lower house of the Spanish parliament voted 202-140 with two abstentions on the final approval of the euthanasia bill. Deputies from Spain's left-wing ruling coalition and other parties backed it, while conservative and far-right lawmakers voted against the legislation, vowing to overturn it in the future.
"Today we are a more humane, just and free country. Thank you to all those who fought tirelessly for the recognition of the right to die with dignity in Spain," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on Thursday.
The Spanish Catholic Church has strongly condemned the reform, comparing euthanasia to "a form of murder". About a hundred people protested against the legislation outside Parliament.
A protester from the group "Derecho a Vivir" stands mockingly in a coffin outside the Spanish parliament in Madrid, February 11.
Conditions for euthanasia and assisted suicide are strict. The person must be "competent and aware" when making the request, which must be formulated "without external pressure" and renewed fifteen days later. Physicians may reject the application if they consider that the criteria have not been met. Furthermore, the decision must be approved by another physician and given the green light by an evaluation committee.
Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. In some US states, medically assisted suicide is permitted - when patients self-administer lethal drugs under medical supervision.
Burimet: El Pais, Euronews
