Havana [Cuba], December 23: Cuba has become the second country in Latin America and the Caribbean to license euthanasia, after Colombia.
Specifically, the Cuban parliament on November 22 passed this measure as part of a law updating the national legal framework for a free and universal health care system, Reuters reported.
The final draft of the legislation states: "The human right to a dignified death is recognized in end-of-life decisions, which may include limiting treatment efforts, ongoing care or [.] forms of treatment] pain relief , and valid procedures to end life".
Cuba's Roman Catholic Church has not commented on the country's parliament's decision.
At the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology in Havana , the country's leading cancer center, Dr. Alberto Roque, who has a master's degree in bioethics, welcomed the measure and said it had establishing "a legal framework for future euthanasia of any kind".
Cuban state media barely mentioned that the government would approve this approach and there was no public debate. However, Dr. Roque says that will change when regulations are issued.
Outside the cancer hospital, nurse Suaima Lopez (47 years old), who has rectal cancer, said she supports euthanasia in case she or other patients do not recover.
"Families want to keep their loved ones alive until the last moment but one must think about their suffering," said Ms. Lopez.
Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand and some states in the US also allow euthanasia.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
