Terminally ill to get right to die faster in Spain

Source: Associated Press

Terminally ill to get right to die faster in Spain
May 13, 2011

MADRID—The Spanish government has approved a law that gives terminally ill patients the right to hasten their deaths by halting medical treatment.

Health Minister Leire Pajin said that the law would not affect bans on euthanasia or assisted suicide, which outlaw actions that lead to the deaths of those who otherwise would have lived.

Halting medical treatment in terminal cases is common practice in Spanish hospitals but was never explicitly permitted.

The bill must be approved by Parliament in the coming months.

Health officials said the law would apply only to those with months at most to live, and also grants the right to adequate palliative care.

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2011/05/13/terminally_ill_to_get_right_to_die_faster_in_spain/

2nd Amendment solutions to this.

the patient personally "opts in" to the American health care system.

What a country!

The inability to access health care has been climbing the economic ladder for a long, long time now. Look at all of the people who've lost their health insurance due to job loss in this economy. And due to the fact that employers can now offer crappy salaries and benefits to new hires who are desperate and clamoring for jobs, more and more with jobs are probably going to be uninsured. That, of course, is until 2014 when the country will be at the mercy of the insurance industry. I predict a nightmare at that point and suspect things will only get worse as the industry figures out how to fuck even more people than they do now....and, of course, get paid handsomely to do it.

In the US, we require life saving medical treatment for minors, since they are not old enough to make life extending or terminating decisions for themselves, but I think in the U.S. we adults are free to reject medical treatment, if we want.

A person who keeps a human alive in pain is considered compassionate.

huh? The pet can't even consent to die, the human can.

citizens should also have the right to something more than a rope, gun, or knife --

or tall building -- if they are ill and in pain and want it over with!

Tehre is some research showing that people who give up on aggressive treatment actually live longer.

People should be able to reject extraordinary means to prolong their lives, but they should also be kept as free of pain as possible as they approach their inevitable death.

It guarantees access to adequate palliative care under Spain's single-payer universal healthcare system.

I think the law is quite humane then.