MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguay: Orsi signs euthanasia bill into law

Until the regulatory framework is decreed, euthanasia procedures may not go through

President Yamandú Orsi signed into law the so-called “Dignified Death” bill, also known as the euthanasia bill. Now the Uruguayan Executive Branch has 180 days to draft the decree that will officially regulate the law's application.

“The purpose of this law is to regulate and guarantee the right of individuals to die with dignity,” the bill mentions in Article 1. “Any person of legal age, mentally competent, who is in the terminal stage of an incurable and irreversible disease, or who, as a result of incurable and irreversible diseases or health conditions, suffers from unbearable suffering, in all cases with a serious and progressive deterioration in their quality of life, has the right, at their request and through the procedure established in this law, to undergo euthanasia so that their death occurs in a painless, peaceful, and dignified manner,” Article 2 provides.

However, there will be no euthanasia-seeking tourism, since the measure is only for Uruguayan nationals and foreign legal residents.

The law outlines a rigorous, multi-step process for an individual seeking medically assisted death: The patient must submit the request personally and in writing to a doctor, who must confirm the patient meets the clinical and psychological conditions defined in Article 2 and verify that the expressed will is free, serious, and firm.

After admissibility is confirmed, the request must be submitted to a second, independent physician who must personally consult with the patient and review their clinical rrcord within five days.

If the two physicians disagree, a Medical Board —composed of three professionals, including a psychiatrist and a specialist in the patient's pathology— must issue a definitive ruling within another five days.

If the initial doctor rejects the initial request, the patient is immediately entitled to seek a second opinion.

Until the regulatory framework is decreed, euthanasia procedures may not go through.