In the last few years, some countries have been considering the legalization of euthanasia (roughly characterized as the practice of ending the life of a patient to limit the patient’s suffering). Until now, the procedure has been decriminalized in Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Colombia, and some states of the USA. Assisted suicide is the only way allowed in Italy, Switzerland, and Germany, even in particular and restricted situations.Â
The practice has become increasingly present in countries around the world. In February of 2024, Ecuador approved for the first time the right to the procedure for a terminally ill patient. In April, the first death by euthanasia occurred in Peru, in Ana Estrada, a patient who suffered from a degenerative disease.
Furthermore, there was a recommendation, in Ireland, coming from a committee of the country’s Parliament, that euthanasia, or assisted suicide, should be allowed in the country. However, only in cases of an incurable disease or one that will lead the patient to death within a period of 6 to 12 months.
What’s the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide?
Euthanasia, or assisted suicide, are two legal ways that someone can unlive themselves with the help of health professionals. Assisted suicide is when the patient commits the act, self-administering a lethal dose of a drug. In contrast, euthanasia is when another person injects the drug on the patient, being in most cases, a doctor.Â
In Brazil, both ways are considered illegal. In case someone performs the procedure (assisted suicide), the penalty would be from six months to two years of prison, for the person who helped make it happen. On the other hand, for the person who tries to carry out the procedure of euthanasia, the penalty would be six years to twenty years of confinement. However, the person may have a decrease in penance depending on the reason, and if it has a relevant moral value attributed to it.
Physical illness x Mental illness
A lot of discussions involving the difference of morals between wanting to do one of the procedures for physical reasons, or for mental causes, have been debated over the years. There are also a lot of doctors who defend the claim that a mental illness can cause as much damage, hurt, and suffering as a physical disease. In contrast, some doctors say that there are enough ways to treat mental disorders and that people should not be helped to die. “Research shows that most cases of depression, with the attempt of suicide, are treatable cases, through therapy and the use of medication”, stated the psychologist Alexia Lucena in interview for HCCL.Â
There are a lot of criteria for euthanasia to be permitted in cases where the patient has a mental illness. Despite all the prejudice involving the capacity of mentally unstable people to make decisions, we can’t presume that only because someone has depression, anxiety, or any other mental disorder, that they’re not able to make decisions, according to David RodrĂguez-Arias, professor of bioethics at the University of Granada, to BBC News World. However, in contrast to Professor David’s claim, Alexia Lucena believes that in cases of depression, specifically, the patient has a cognitive distortion, along with the depression scenario, causing the inability to carry out judgments and opinions.Â
A lot of people and doctors think that because someone is resorting to euthanasia, or assisted suicide, as a last resource, it’s because the person is desperate, or is having disturbed thoughts. For Carolina Arruda, that affirmation is wrong. Carolina is a 27-year-old woman, who lives in BambuĂ, Brazil, and suffers from a rare disease that is considered the worst pain in the world, the Trigeminal neuralgia. The woman posts a lot of videos on TikTok showing her everyday life, and the difficulties of living, for the last 11 years, with a disease that has no cure. In a lot of videos posted on her account, Carolina says that if she could perform euthanasia, she would, even though she is married and has a child, taking into account the size of her daily physical pain.Â
The tiktoker spends most of her day lying down, and she can’t even do physical exercises. Carolina spends 24/7 in pain, sometimes she even has to be hospitalized. Even though she had done some surgeries intending to reduce her pain, and she did, on a scale of 25% less pain, the young woman hasn’t given up on euthanasia yet.
Arguments for and against euthanasia and assisted suicide
The people who defend the legalization of euthanasia claim that people should have the right to autonomy. For them, the patient should be able to choose between wanting to live with pain and suffering, or not. Professor and bioethicist RodrĂguez-Arias said to BBC News World that these arguments are established both for patients with physical pain or with a mental illness.
“I think that patients with mental health problems, including those with depression, could be candidates, in theory, for this type of aid in dying, as long as they have the effective competence to make this decision and as long as they convince doctors that their condition It is chronic and disabling.”Â
On the contrary, people who go against the legalization of euthanasia defend that it’s the Health Organization‘s purpose to do as much as possible to a patient’s life. Also, they claim that psychiatrists, in particular, should have an anti-suicide discourse and not give it (assisted suicide/euthanasia) as a form of treatment.
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The article above was edited by Clarissa Palácio.
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