Cuba has become the second country in Latin America and the Caribbean to allow euthanasia, following Colombia. The communist-run country's National Assembly approved euthanasia as part of legislation updating the country's legal framework for a universal and free healthcare system. "Based on people's desire to have the right to a dignified death, the right to end life may be decided in cases where therapeutic efforts have not yielded results, in cases requiring continuous or partial care, and in cases that make life difficult, under conditions that provide for valid procedures," the final draft of the legislation said.
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, opposed by most religions, is causing great controversy around the world, with only a few countries allowing the practice and some equating it with murder.
Dr. Alberto Roque, who holds a master's degree in bioethics from Havana's Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology, the country's leading cancer center, welcomed the decision, saying it establishes "the fully legal framework for future euthanasia."
Outside the cancer institute, Suaima Lopez, a 47-year-old nurse with rectal cancer, said she and many patients she knows have opted for euthanasia if they cannot recover.
"Families want to keep their loved ones alive until the last moment, but you have to think about those who are suffering. I wish we could have an honorable death at a moment when nothing can be done anymore. Let me die in peace."
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand and some states in the United States also allow euthanasia, and in some of these countries medically assisted suicide is also permitted in the absence of terminal illness, even in cases of great suffering.
