Marta Ostiz
Madrid (EFE).- Two years after the Congress of Deputies gave the green light to the euthanasia law, the Right to Die with Dignity (DMD) association regrets the opacity of the administration when it comes to providing data, although it acknowledges that the number of cases is much lower than what they themselves had estimated.
The latest figures available are from June last year, when the Ministry of Health announced that in the first year of application of the law, a total of 180 people had exercised their right to euthanasia. Since then, the figure has not been updated, although from DMD they estimate that they may be around 300.
In statements to EFE, the president of DMD, Javier Velasco, acknowledges that the figure is “much lower” than what they expected. This association, a pioneer in defending the right to euthanasia in Spain, had made estimates based on figures from the Nordic countries, where this practice has been legalized for years.
Thus, before the approval of the law, they calculated that 2% of all deaths would be due to euthanasia. The percentage today is one in every thousand deaths “and that in the communities with the most cases, because in others the figure is up to ten times lower.”
What does not surprise Velasco are the predominant pathologies: degenerative diseases such as ALS or multiple sclerosis, in which the death of the person is not close, well above oncological diseases.
And he points out as a positive aspect the fact that in most of the autonomous communities some euthanasia has already been carried out on people with psychiatric pathologies, despite initial reluctance and the “false idea” that people with mental illness are not They are empowered to make this decision.
Cases of euthanasia of psychiatric patients are rare and to access help it is also necessary to have a psychiatric report.
Regarding the controversy raised during the debate on the law on the conscientious objection of toilets, Velasco has indicated that the number of objectors does not reach 2%. “Conscientious objection is in the minority and is not a problem,” he says.
What can be more problematic -he indicates- are the “objectors of convenience”, many of them family doctors who have a high pressure of care, do not know how to process the case and cannot free up their schedules to attend in the way that is deserves a request for euthanasia.
Important differences between autonomous communities
Catalonia, the Basque Country, Cantabria, Navarra, Asturias and Aragon are the communities that stand out in the application of the law, while on the opposite side are Madrid and Andalusia, the latter especially due to the obstacles when it comes to submitting the first application for euthanasia, although once this procedure is completed, the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission is diligent.
In the Community of Madrid, Velasco denounces the lack of knowledge among professionals and the lack of involvement of the Administration.
The president of DMD regrets that communities such as Valencia are not giving them data from the application of the law, while he is surprised by the figures reported by Extremadura, where only one euthanasia would have been carried out.
Velasco insists that those communities that work best are those that have referral committees, doctors who have some previous experience and who guide health workers who are facing euthanasia for the first time.
The Constitutional Court will rule shortly
The plenary session of the Constitutional Court plans to resolve this week Vox’s appeal against the law and, according to the sources consulted by EFE, it will foreseeably do so with full endorsement of the rule.
In the last plenary session, the rapporteur magistrate, the progressive Ramón Sáez Valcárcel, advanced that this will be the meaning of the sentence that will be submitted to debate by the magistrates this coming week. According to the sources consulted by Efe, the majority of the TC is in favor of supporting the norm.