The Constitutional Court of Colombia sues Congress to regulate assisted suicide

MADRID, 15 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Constitutional Court of Colombia has asked Congress for the seventh time to legislate and facilitate access to a dignified death, in this case it has demanded the regulation of medically assisted suicide, which the Court recognized in a ruling issued in the month of May of this same year.

The right to die with dignity is not new in Colombian legislation, but was recognized as fundamental and decriminalized by the Constitutional Court in 1997 and in 2014 it requested the Ministry of Health for the first time to regulate access so that it could be extended to the public health system. , according to the newspaper 'Cambio'.

For this reason, access to palliative care, the voluntary interruption of medical procedures and euthanasia was recognized, although in order to exercise the latter it was necessary: ​​to express the free desire to do so, to have a serious or incurable injury or illness, and to suffer from pain. physical or psychological that do not allow the person to lead a decent life.

However, there was no room for assisted suicide, which is what the High Court is now requesting, although this is not penalized in the country by the 1997 ruling, although health personnel are not obliged in any way to carry it out.