Assisted suicide María José Carrasco, terminally ill multiple sclerosis for 30 years, with the help of her husband, and the arrest and subsequent release of this in Madrid have reopened the debate on the decriminalization of euthanasia, an issue that has been paralyzed in Parliament.
Tras 14 unsuccessful attempts to regulate euthanasia in Spain, the proposed law presented by the PSOE last June to reform the article of the Criminal Code that punishes suicide aid and that seeks to decriminalize the right, in certain circumstances, to choose the time of death and receive medical assistance to this has been interrupted without the law being able to be discussed in a paper for the obstruction of the PP and Citizens, thanks to its majority in the Congress Table.
El Criminal Code set in the Article 143 that “he who induces the suicide of another will be punished with the prison sentence of four to eight years”, a sentence that is reduced in the event that this act is carried out “by the express, serious and unequivocal request of the latter” in the case of serious illness. However, there is a regulations that affect the right of patients to receive comprehensive palliative care. In addition, several Autonomous Communities have their own laws in the area of dignified death. Canary Islands, for example, has since March of 2015 a law of rights and guarantees of the dignity of the person before the final process of his life. Around 6.500 people in Canary Islands require palliative care
According to newspaper El País, different surveys carried out at national level, more than 70% of Spaniards are in favor of regulating euthanasia in case of serious and incurable disease that causes great suffering. Euthanasia and assisted suicide have been applied without problems for years in several countries such as Belgium, Holland or Switzerland. There is a fear that decriminalization could lead to a situation of illegitimate abuse, but the experience of other countries shows that there are control mechanisms capable of avoiding it.
