Bukan hanaya di Swiss atau di negeri Belanda saja orang yang setelah tahu
dengan pasti bahwa penyakitnya tidak bisa disembuhkan,
seperti kanker, lantas bisa minta eutanaise ('dignified death').
FYI
BBC News Latin America & Caribbean
10 May 2012 Last updated at 09:31 GMT
Argentina Senate passes 'dignified death' law
The Argentine Senate has approved a "dignified death" law to give the
terminally ill and their families more say in end-of-life decisions.
The legislation means patients who are dying or suffering incurable illness or
injury can refuse treatment, if there is an existing signed consent form.
Until now, a court order was needed to end treatment or life support.
The Senate has also passed a law that allows people to change their gender
officially without court approval.
Senators voted by 55-0 in favour of the "dignified death" law, with 17
abstentions. The measure had already passed the lower house and it now goes to
President Cristina Fernandez to be signed into law.
All those present were at pains to stress that the legislation does not allow
euthanasia.
"The aim is to respect the autonomous will of the patient," said Jose Cano, who
heads the Senate's health commission.
Concern
Susana Bustamante, whose 19-year-old daughter Melina had pleaded to be allowed
to die amid the pain from her degenerative condition, welcomed the new law.
"You have to allow something natural like death. Death is not a dirty word,
we've won it as a right," Ms Bustamante said.
Melina died last year shortly after making her public appeal.
Under the new legislation, a patient who is suffering a terminal illness or has
an incurable condition can refuse treatment.
In cases where patients are unable to speak for themselves, the legislation
empowers relatives or legal representatives to make the decision.
The main condition is that the patient or his representatives have signed a
document setting out their wishes, before a notary and two witnesses.
During the debate, some senators expressed concern about ending life support to
or withdrawing feeding tubes from a patient unable to communicate.
The Roman Catholic Church rejected the new legislation, arguing that life
support should never be stopped.
Senators also used Wednesday's session to approve a gender rights law.
The legislation gives people the right to be officially recognised by the
gender of their choosing, which may in some cases mean undergoing sex-change
surgery.
People aged 18 and above will be able to have such an operation or hormone
therapy without needing to apply to a judge.
More Latin America & Caribbean stories
People light candles in memory of Daniel Zamudio Chile's hate crime law
approved
Chile passes a hate crimes law that languished in Congress for seven years
but gained added urgency after the fatal beating of a gay man in March.
Brazil approves World Cup beer sales
Farc kill seven Colombia police
BBC
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