 |
|
|
 Health & Beauty | April 2007 
Mexico Could Legalize Euthanasia
 PVNN
| | Laurence Tramois speaks to the press in front of the court in Perigueux, France. The French doctor was given a year's suspended prison sentence Thursday for poisoning a terminally ill woman in a case that has raised the issue of euthanasia in France's presidential election. (AFP/Jean-Pierre Muller) |
Lately there has been lots of movement in Mexico City on the part of leftist senators towards the legalization of abortion, sparking a heated public debate that is raging on. Now Mexico is on its way to the legalization of yet another controversial practice: euthanasia. The health commission of the Mexican senate responsible for the proposed bill, which:
...is based on humanist principals and respects the right of the individual to freedom of self-determination, taking into account that this liberty be given in a responsible and informed way, according to the PRD.
The plan looks to reform the Federal Penal Code and create a law called General Law of Suspension of Curative Treatment, also called the Law of the Right to a Dignified Death. The requirements of the law can be applied if the patient is in terminal phase, having been diagnosed with a maximum of 6 months to live, and when the patient or his or her family (in the case of a incapacitated patient) have given their consent.
Spain's El Pais reports (in Spanish) that the bill has been well-received by senators, but I'm sure that as the time to vote on the bill draws closer, the church will stick its nose in the matter. We'll keep you posted on how this story progresses.
French Doctor Gets Suspended Sentence in Euthanasia Trial
ReutersA French doctor at the centre of a euthanasia trial was given a year's suspended prison sentence on Thursday for prescribing a lethal injection that ended a terminally-ill patient's life.
A nurse who carried out the injection was acquitted in the case that has revived debate about euthanasia in the run-up to France's April-May election campaign, pushing presidential candidates to take a stance on the right to die.
Legislation adopted in 2005 allows families to request that life-support equipment for a terminally-ill patient be switched off, but does not allow a doctor to take action to end a patient's life.
Paulette Druais was suffering from pancreatic cancer when she died in a hospital in the southwestern Dordogne region of France on August 25, 2003, minutes after nurse Chantal Chanel injected her with the lethal dose of potassium chloride that Laurence Tramois had prescribed.
The doctor said that she decided to resort to a lethal injection after Druais had told her that she did not want to die "in filth."
Druais' husband and son testified during the trial that they were grateful to Tramois and Chanel for their actions and insisted that Paulette Druais had asked to end her life.
But the son Laurent admitted during testimony on Wednesday that the family had never "broached the topic" of euthanasia even though they were distraught over the failing health of Paulette Druais.
Investigators maintain that the decision to administer the injection was taken without proper consultation with the patient's family.
Prosecutors had requested suspended sentences of two years for Tramois and one year for Chanel, and warned jurors that an acquittal would send the wrong signal about mercy-killing.
The jury decided that that Tramois should not get a criminal record because of the conviction. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us