Uruguay has legalized euthanasia, becoming the first country in Latin America to pass a law that allows terminally ill people to opt for assisted death.

 

 

 

The Uruguayan Senate approved the so-called “Dignified Death” bill, which received 20 votes in favor out of a total of 31. The lower house had already passed the bill in August with a large majority.

 

 

 

 

The bill allows an adult Uruguayan citizen who is mentally sound and in the terminal stage of an irreversible disease to choose euthanasia to be performed by a healthcare professional.

 

 

 

 

It does not allow assisted suicide involving a patient self-administering a lethal dose of prescribed medication.

 

 

 

“We all believe and feel that life is a right, both in health and in sickness, but it should never be an obligation because others don’t understand such unbearable suffering,” Senator Daniel Borbonet said after quoting testimony from Uruguayan patients with irreversible medical conditions.

 

 

 

Uruguay stands out for its long history of socially liberal laws in a predominantly Catholic Latin America.

 

 

 

It has been a pioneer in the region to pass laws allowing legalized cannabis, same-sex marriages, and abortion.

 

 

 

More than 60% of Uruguayans support legal euthanasia, with only 24% opposed, according to a recent poll.

 

 

 

In Latin America, Colombia and Ecuador have decriminalized the euthanasia, albeit without passing laws to legalize the practice. Meanwhile, Cuba allows for terminal patients to refuse being kept alive artificially.