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Costa Rica lawmaker considering bill to legalize human euthanasia

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Rep. Marvin Atencio (PAC) is considering presenting a bill before Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly to legalize human euthanasia. (CRHoy.com)

Rep. Marvin Atencio (PAC) is considering presenting a bill before Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly to legalize human euthanasia. (CRHoy.com)

April 23rd, 2015 (InsideCostaRica.com) Rep. Marvin Atencio (PAC) is considering presenting a bill before Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly to legalize human euthanasia.

 

Atencio, both a surgeon and a lawyer by profession, told CRHoy.com that the bill would aim to reform section 117 of the Penal Code, which defines manslaughter, in order to allow medical professionals to provide euthanasia for patients with terminal and chronic illnesses.

 

Atencio said that medical staff would have the last word in authorizing the procedure, according to CRHoy.com.

 

Atencio said he would decide by July whether or not to present the bill, which he said is currently in draft form.

 

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  • Ken Morris

    I doubt this will pass, given the influence of the Catholic Church, and have my own reservations about empowering Caja to kill patients.

    It’s already pretty rough in the Caja. Patients get the distinct impression that some of the staff regard them as a nuisance they would prefer to get rid of, and the staff already gives patients enough of an arbitrary runaround to make it seem like they are trying to get the patients to go away and leave them alone. Plus, while it’s hard to be sure, my impression when in a Caja hospital is that a few on the staff are intentionally cruel. A friend now in a Caja hospital tells me that he suspects one of the nurses of being intentionally cruel to him.

    Anyway, this is not the outfit I’d want to trust with euthanasia. In theory I favor euthanasia, and I’m sure that if passed the bill will be carefully worded to protect patients from abuse, but the gap between what the law says and what really happens in the Caja makes it unwise to put much faith in a law that allows the Caja to kill you.

    Nope, not the Caja, please . . .

  • prdatki

    I hope it passes, Costa Rica also needs the Death penalty to include, Politicians , Clergy, Communist,Socialist and run of the mill murderers .

  • mhogan

    Is this helpful to Christina Figueres in her suggestion to reduce the population for the benefit of our environment?

  • disgusted

    Recent investigations about treatments from heart disease to cancer treatments are delayed sometimes over a year and thus the people of Costa Rica are being not treated. UNLESS your a person of STATURE . Euthanasia already exists in a way. Sad for those who have hope and then okay appointment in 8 months and even that is cancelled.

  • Yeims

    My wife has gone to the Caja five times now for the same problem — a raging yeast infection — and each time was given acetaminophen and sent home. The MD’s never even ordered any lab tests at all. A simple urine test would have confirmed the infection, which, if it gets to the systemic level, i.e, in the blood, it likely will be fatal. I am going to stop paying the Caja and of course, wouldn’t consider even for a minute going to see them for treatment even though I might be dying. An ex-federal hospital services planner in the States, I see the facilities and services here more or less as a farce — totally disorganized, totally uninformed, and totally into themselves. A shame CR hasn’t a military and has never been in a war. and so doesn’t have a clue about triage and emergency care, let alone discipline.

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