The Court had already set a precedent a few months ago, when it extended the process to the euthanasia.
In the SMA the person causes his own death, while in euthanasia the action is carried out by a doctor.
With the ruling of the Constitutional Court, Colombia becomes the first country in the Americas to decriminalize both euthanasia and EMS.
The other countries that have guaranteed both medical practices are Canada, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the states of Victoria and Western Australia, in Australia, and Switzerland.
The plenary of the Constitutional Court of Colombia analyzed a lawsuit filed by the Laboratory of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (DescLab), which considered that it is not possible to penalize health providers who accompany a procedure of this type.
Until now, this type of practice in Colombia implied a sentence between 16 and 36 months.
As decided by the Constitutional Court, the SMA will be legal when the patient is duly diagnosed with a bodily injury or a serious and incurable disease.
Also when you suffer from intense physical or mental pain due to the condition, which are also incompatible with your idea of a decent life.
As in euthanasia, the patient must have the respective informed consent and the assistance of a professional doctor.
One of the initiatives promoted by the plaintiffs is that, just as euthanasia has certain parameters for it to be carried out, medically assisted suicide must also have those mechanisms, added El Espectador,
The Ministry of Health did not agree during the study of the demand, since it considered that the medical act could be conditioned to the purpose of death and that no professional should be forced to be part of the patient’s will, due to moral incompatibility or differences in health condition.
The Attorney General’s Office reached the same conclusion, which is not unaware that the SMA can be an alternative to guarantee the right to die with dignity. However, according to his criteria, under the principle of separation of powers, Congress is in charge of authorizing the procedure to be recognized as valid.
The Ministry of Justice was the first portfolio of the Executive that refused the SMA on November 16, the Bogota newspaper specified.
Source: Ambito
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