Spain’s lower house has approved the bill that legalised euthanasia for long suffering patients having zero hope of recovery, in the event that it was physician assisted. This bill, which passed the lower house vote by 198-138, still needs approval from the Senate before being signed into law. The bill faced opposition from conservatives in the largely Catholic country.
“As a society, we cannot remain impassive when faced with the intolerable pain that many people suffer,” Spanish Health Minister Salvador Illa told lawmakers.
The legislation allows those with “serious and incurable” diseases that cause “unbearable suffering” to choose to end their lives. The bill now goes to the Senate which can suggest amendments. Patients must ask to die on four different occasions during the process, which can last over a month. The first two requests must be in writing and submitted over two weeks apart. The patient must reaffirm that request a third time after consulting with a doctor and a fourth time just before undergoing the procedure to end his or her life.
If passed, Spain would become the fourth and largest country in the European Union to legalise euthanasia. Spain is following the footsteps of Iberian Peninsula neighbor Portugal, whose parliament approved similar bills to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in February. Those bills have yet to become law and could yet face resistance from Portugal’s president.