Parliament passes new euthanasia law

The new euthanasia law was passed for the fourth time this Friday.

A medically assisted death is an act that results in the death of a patient at their will, by the action of a healthcare professional, or by euthanasia. This is the sixth time that Parliament has debated the topic of euthanasia.

A new article on euthanasia states that it will only be possible “when medically assisted suicide is not possible due to the patient’s physical incapacity.”

In 2018, when there was a right-wing majority in parliament, the law failed. Two years later, already under the scenario of the left majority, the law was approved.

Euthanasia has been discussed for five years, despite the fact that it has already been approved by the Assembly of the Republic. During this period there was a parliamentary failure of the law, then four final approvals, three vetoes of the President of the Republic (one political and two constitutional) and two failures in the Constitutional Court.

On January 30 this year, after Marcelo Rebelo de Souza submitted the euthanasia law to the Constitutional Court for the third time, he considered that the “right to life” could not be legislated.

A new article in the law establishes that medically assisted suicide becomes the general rule. Exceptions will only be allowed for patients without autonomy. Medically assisted death can be done by euthanasia, where a doctor administers a lethal drug to a patient, or by medically assisted suicide, where the patient self-administers a legal drug under medical supervision. Thus, euthanasia will always be performed by a patient self-administering a lethal drug. This scenario does not occur when the patient is completely incapable of autonomy.