The Plenary Chamber of the Constitutional Court decided this Wednesday to give feasibility to physician assisted suicide. With a vote of 6 to 3, the magistrates decided to decriminalize this practice in the country.
This decision comes months after the same Court eliminated the barriers to access the euthanasia, another assisted death procedure, in decisions classified as historical. But what is the difference between one procedure and another?
“The difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide is, basically, who administers the drug”, they explained from the Foundation for the Right to Die with Dignity.
According to this organization, in the case of euthanasia it is the medical staff who administers the drug that causes the death of the patient, while in physician assisted suicide it is the patient who self-administers the medication, yes, the foundation clarifies, with the advice of expert and authorized personnel.
With the Court’s decision, the Criminal Code eliminates the punishment for people who help “put an end to intense suffering from bodily injury or serious and incurable disease”, which was sanctioned with a sentence that could extend between 16 and 36 months in prison.
However, these procedures must be carried out strictly under medical protection. Otherwise, assisted suicide will continue to be punished with between 32 and 108 months in prison.
In what cases will medical assisted suicide apply?
-When the patient is diagnosed with a serious or incurable disease.
-When the patient has a serious or incurable bodily injury.
-When the physical pain, due to the disease, is incompatible with the patient’s idea of a dignified life.