The Constitutional Court of Colombia decriminalized the physician assisted suicide. With six votes in favor and three against, it was approved to exempt from being penalized with the crime established in the Penal Code health professionals for this practice.
The Laboratory of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights filed the lawsuit against the second paragraph of article 107 of the Penal Code. The regulations establish sentences ranging from 16 to 36 months in prison, for anyone who induces a person to commit suicide “or provides effective help for its realization.”
To endorse the assisted suicide procedure, health professionals must confirm that the patient is diagnosed with a bodily injury or a serious and incurable illness, or that they suffer from intense physical or psychological pain incompatible with their idea of a dignified life, or that they manifest expressly their intention and the assistance is provided by a doctor.
The mechanism implies that the patient self-administers the lethal dose of medication, unlike euthanasia, in which the health personnel is the one who provides it, a procedure that is also decriminalized in Colombia.
From the Regional News Agency
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