Since June, the Basque De Salid Service, Osakidetza, has received a total of 34 requests for euthanasia, of which 13 have already been dealt with and eight people have died before starting the procedure. In addition, 12 of the remaining 13 are in different phases of the process, confirmed the Minister of Health, Gotzone Sagardui, in a committee of the Basque Parliament, after ensuring that only one of the 34 applications has been rejected since June 25 the national euthanasia law came into force. Of the 13 performed, eight were carried out at the patient’s home and the rest at the hospital. Only 1.9% of doctors have registered as conscientious objectors.
The euthanasia law establishes that this practice may be carried out to patients who request it and who are in a context of “serious, chronic and incapacitating illness or serious and incurable disease, causing intolerable suffering.” Of the 34 applicants, 20 are men and 14 women. The age range of those who have requested this right ranges from 45 years of the youngest patient to 89 years of the oldest, has reported the Deputy Minister of Health, José Luis Quintas, who has appeared with the counselor in the commission. Most of the requests correspond to people affected by a disabling chronic disease (15 cases), while the other 19 cases are due to terminal illnesses.
By province, 17 of the applications were made in Gipuzkoa, 16 in Bizkaia and one in Álava. Of the 13 euthanasias that Osakidetza has already carried out, eight were performed at the patient’s home and the other five at the hospital. The average time between the first request to benefit from this right and the practice of this form of dignified death has been 41 days. Of the 13 euthanasias carried out, seven have been performed on patients with a disabling chronic disease and six on patients with terminal pathologies.
The counselor stressed that the acceptance of this law by health professionals in the Basque Country has been “positive”. As explained, so far 4,993 health and social health workers have received training related to the euthanasia law, who have been advised on procedures, protocols and good practices. In turn, 188 professionals have registered as conscientious objectors, being against euthanasia for moral reasons. Of this group, 156 are physicians, 29 are nursing professionals, and three are clinical psychologists.
Sagardui stressed that the number of conscientious objectors is “very low”, especially among Osakidetza doctors, of whom only 1.9% have declared themselves as such. In this way, it has stated that conscientious objection is not “a problem” to guarantee the provision of this service in the Basque Country. The counselor has affirmed that this is a “balanced and guaranteeing” law, which responds to a demand from society. In addition, it has stated that, in the case of the Basque Country, this rule has been applied “quickly and efficiently” to guarantee that people who want to avail themselves of this new right can do so.
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