Uruguay decides today whether to legalize euthanasia: ‘Option to say enough’

Being of legal age, citizen or resident and being mentally fit, in the terminal phase of an incurable pathology or one that causes unbearable suffering, with serious deterioration in quality of life, are some of the requirements.

The patient must also go through previous procedures before confirming their wishes in writing.

Secular and accustomed to innovating in the region when it comes to legislating on rights, Uruguay thus adds new liberal legislation to others approved in recent years, such as the regulation of the marijuana market, equal marriage and abortion.

The Medical College respected the different positions of its members and did not define a position on the issue.

However, it advised on the entire process “to provide maximum guarantees for patients and doctors”, the entity’s president, Álvaro Niggemeyer, commented to AFP.

The Catholic Church expressed “sadness” over the approval of the project in the Chamber of Deputies in August, and resistance to the text that became law transcended religious spheres. More than a dozen organizations rejected his writing as “deficient and dangerous.”