Mexico City passes 'right to die' law

Irish Sun (IANS) Wednesday 9th January, 2008

The administration of the capital city of Mexico has passed an ordinance legalising the right to die by terminally ill people.

The law, which allows only withholding of treatment and not medically assisted death of a patient, has come into force from Tuesday only at the government run hospitals in the Mexico City, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.

The law authorises anyone who signs the so-called 'living will' to reject 'tenacious, disproportionate or useless' medical treatment that would, in their opinion, unnecessarily lengthen the 'inevitable dying process'.

It further states that the health care personnel attending the terminally ill patients may not 'at any time and under any circumstances' administer medications or medical treatments that 'intentionally cause the death of the patient in the terminal phase'.

Mexican Catholic Church spokesman Hugo Valdemar said that it does not oppose the law, as it does not fall under the definition of euthanasia. Euthanasia allows overt and intentional action to 'cause' death of the patient.