Riding the Wave, 36 & 37. Personal Decisions.

Spain has finally passed a law governing euthanasia. It has passed the lower chambers, and now moves on to the Senate, which will, most likely ratify it. Sometime in the first quarter of the next year, it should come into effect.

The new law states that a person who desires it must be an adult, and conscious of his actions. If he is unconscious, or otherwise impeded, he must have left some kind of legal testament with his desires known. Being conscious, he must submit in writing his desire. Upon accepting it, the doctor must discuss the matter fully with the patient, disclosing all possible information on palliative care and diagnosis. If the patient continues with his desire, the doctor meets with the patient again, and brings in another doctor. Then, it goes to a committee, which will give the final assessment. After that, it goes back to the doctor, who meets with the patient, who will make his final decision, whether to go ahead, or not. Finally, euthanasia is applied. 

Most of the population wants a euthanasia law. Many have seen family members dying inch by inch, and have decided they don't want to suffer like that. Others, like a person I know, have objected to even giving their loved ones morphine because they felt it was being used to "shorten" their dying relative's life. Personally, I don't know what I want. I don't want to suffer, but I hate the thought of giving up on life. I suppose we are wired to want to extend life as much as possible, even by a few moments.

The fight for a law began back in the 1990's, when a local man, Ramón Sampedro, reached the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg, demanding that he had the right to end his life. In 1968, when he was twenty-five, he was diving in a cove near his house in the township of Porto do Son, when he hit a rock underwater with his head. As a result, he became tetraplegic, and confined to his bed for the rest of his life. He was only able to move his head, and his sister and brother-in-law cared for him in every aspect. He didn't want to continue living that way, considering his body a prison and a burden on people he loved. He petitioned every court he could in Spain, and reached the European arena, but he was still denied his decision. In the end, with the help of his close friend, he drank a dose of cyanide from a glass through a straw, and ended his life.

Of course, while the law passed with a very good margin of votes, there were the usual, right-wing voices against it. These voices were clamoring that the socialist-communist government now wants to do away with the weakest of society, beginning with the elderly. They claim that euthanasia is not a right, but an excuse to murder those who are a burden. Back it up, people. The law states that it is the patient who must ask for it, not his relatives. If the patient is unconscious and didn't make a living will asking for euthanasia, then the relatives can't ask for it. It is a personal decision made by the patient, no one else.

Some have called out the right-wing parties, saying that they were also against legalizing divorce, or abortion, or same-sex marriage, but then, once legalized, they went ahead and took advantage of those laws. That was a dig at Santiago Abascal, head of Vox, who is divorced. The euthanasia law merely gives individuals control over their right to live or die, it does not obligate anyone to make use of it.

The right-wing Partido Popular shouldn't talk much about "murdering" elderly people. In the region of Madrid, most of the residences for the elderly are owned by the regional government. During the first wave of the pandemic, the directors of the residences weren't allowed to send the sick elderly to the hospitals, nor were the means provided to the residences, resulting in thousands of unnecessary deaths. It is now being investigated. These people weren't given even the "choice" of getting medical care. It is easy to speak, but harder to live by one's words.

Life continues.