This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: More States legalized passive euthanasia. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2021)
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(December 2021)
Current status of euthanasia in Mexico:
Passive euthanasia is legal
Not legislated
Legislation on euthanasia in Mexico distinguishes between passive and active
euthanasia. Since 7 January 2008, the law allows the terminally ill —or closest relatives, if unconscious— to refuse medication or further medical treatment that may extend life (known as passive euthanasia) in
Mexico City,[1] in the state of
Aguascalientes (since 6 April 2009)[2] and, since 1 September 2009, in the state of
Michoacán.[3]
While the exact procedure may vary, the regional laws dealing with
living wills —usually called leyes de Voluntad Anticipada— generally require a
notary public to witness the instructions left by the patient.
As for active euthanasia, the
Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) have introduced bills to decriminalize it in both the
Senate (2007)[4] and the
Legislative Assembly of the Federal District (2009),[5] but have failed to change the Article 166 bis 21 of the General Health Law, which still defines euthanasia as mercy
homicide.[6] In addition, as of December 2010[update], 18 out of 31 states have modified their constitution under pressure from the dominant
Catholic Church to protect the
right to life "from the moment of conception until natural death",[7] effectively discarding any initiative contemplating active euthanasia within state borders.
Official statistics are scarce, but bioethicist Horacio García Romero claims that up to 45% of the terminally-ill patients in the country demand some form of passive euthanasia.[8] In October 2010, the secretary of health for Mexico City announced that, since the legalization of passive euthanasia, 497 patients have formalized the process,[9] including at least 41 out-of-state residents and 2 citizens of the
United States.[10]
Public opinion and political lobbying
According to a Parametría poll conducted in February 2008, 59% of Mexicans think doctors should have the legal right to end the life of a person suffering from an incurable illness upon a request by the patient and his or her relatives, while 35% disagree.[11]
Its main opponents,
anti-abortion activists[12] and
Christian churches[13] —particularly the dominant
Roman Catholic Church— have strongly lobbied against active euthanasia and promote different bills protecting the
right to life "from the moment of conception until natural death."[7] However, regional bills supporting passive euthanasia have been endorsed by several Catholic clergymen, including the archbishops of
León[14] and
Morelia.[15]
A drug known as liquid
pentobarbital is used by owners to euthanize pets. When given to humans, the drug can give them a painless death in under one hour. The pet shops across Mexico have such drugs. As a result, elderly tourists from across the globe seeking to terminate their own lives were reported to be flying out to Mexico.[16]
This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: source from 2008. it is no longer the case in Mexico. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2023)