It may not be a law in the rest of Spain but it does happen. They fought so hard to keep my husband alive until it was obvious that his body had shut everything down so they kept him on the ventilator and sedation but removed all other treatment so that he could die in peace. As you have rightly said it is different from euthanasia but in the end it there are some similarities in so far as thinking of the patient and the torture that their body is being put through.

Rosemary

Yes , but that's my point. He was doing it to healthy people not the terminally ill in obvious pain or distress. It's never been legal in the UK but before Shipman I believe that caring medical professionals quite often hastened the death of the terminally ill to alleviate their obvious suffering. They were breaking the letter of the law but common sense prevailed.

Now nobody dare do this so the law needs changing. How to manage this though? If you suggest in consulation with family, what if the family are a bunch of money grabbing individuals who don't care about the patient and just want to get their hands on the will? What if there is no family and the patient has left their money to their friendly GP? Its so difficult to come up with a formula that protects people from the unscruplous.

Then you've got the patients themselves. What if they are able to ask to die, like some of the cases in the press recently? I would argue that should be enough but the counter argument is that they may be under pressure from relatives or just having a bad day.

Where I live physician assisted suicide is legal. Some requirements are that the patient must be competent to make the decision, have a terminal condition, 2 doctors to sign off on it. The patient must once again request it 15 days later.

That's interesting. I always thought the US had such a strong religious lobby that would have been against this. Are there many other states where this is allowed? Can you take a one way trip from another state if yours has different rules?

I'm afraid that I don't know. The law has been in effect over ten years here and is used reguraly, though not frequently. Many start the process, acquire the means, yet never use it. The bible belt is about 10 states, most of the rest are not much influenced by religious influences. Oregon is one of the least church attended states.