The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the General Directorate of Assistance Programs, has published general information on the right to euthanasia and the procedure that regulates the application of this new provision of the National Health System, aimed at citizens (patients and families), as well as health professionals from public and private healthcare centers.
With the publication of the information, the contents of Organic Law 3/2021, of March 24, regulating euthanasia (LORE ) and the procedure to request it, with direct access to official documents and forms.
The contents are available through the following web pages, in which a prominent access on Euthanasia has been located: www.gobiernodecanarias.org/sanidad/ and www.gobiernodecanarias.org/sanidad/scs/
With the recent approval of the LORE, the new individual right to euthanasia is introduced into the Spanish legal system. This right tries to be a response for people who find themselves in conditions that they consider incompatible with their personal dignity, as a consequence of suffering from an incurable disease, which produces physical and psychological suffering so intense that it is unbearable and for which they have been exhausted the therapeutic alternatives of relief.
The Law regulates euthanasia, decriminalizes it in specific cases for which it is legally accepted to provide help to die, regulates the requirements and the procedure to be followed to request it, and establishes the controls to authorize and comply with it.
Information for patients
The information published on the web pages of the Ministry of Health and the SCS is directed, on the one hand, to patients and their families and, on the other, to professionals of the Canarian health system, to facilitate access based on interest and needs of the target people.
In this way, in the section on information for patients and relatives, basic questions are explained such as what euthanasia is, what is the provision of help to die and who can request it, what guarantees exist so that the patient has solid information for a adequate, full, free and genuine decision or if a person who is not in full use of their powers to give their free, voluntary and conscious consent can request euthanasia, and what happens if the person presented the Advance Declaration of Will (MAV ) before the publication of this Law.
It also informs about the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of the provision of aid for dying in the Canary Islands, a collegiate and multidisciplinary body, created to guarantee the right of people who meet the regulated conditions to request and receive the necessary help.
Regarding the provision, it is informed how to request it, where and how the provision will be carried out, the existing guarantees on the right to privacy and confidentiality of the data throughout the procedure, the revocation, palliative care and the conscientious objection of the professionals. .
Information for professionals
The section for health professionals contains the "Guide for the application of the provision of help to die" and the documents that make up the procedure, as well as information on the registration process in the Registry of Health Professionals of the Canary Islands. Awareness to help to die, created by Order of the Minister of Health, of July 6, 2021.
The inscription in the Registry of the declaration of conscientious objection and, where appropriate, its subsequent modification or revocation, can be carried out by the interested person through electronic procedure that is available at the electronic headquarters of Public Administration of the Autonomous Community of Canary Islands.
