Uruguay follows Canada's lead by legalizing Euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

I have bad news. Uruguay has legalized euthanasia.

Uruguay's Senate passed a euthanasia bill today that was previously passed in August in the Lower House. 

Sadly, Uruguay's passed a euthanasia law that is similar to Canada's law.

According to the Associated Press article:

The legislation permits euthanasia, performed by a healthcare professional, but not assisted suicide, which involves a patient self-administering a lethal dose of prescribed medication.

Unlike laws in U.S. states, Australia and New Zealand restricting euthanasia to those with a life expectancy of no more than six months or a year, Uruguay sets no time limits. It also not does require a waiting period, and allows anyone suffering from an incurable illness that causes “unbearable suffering” to seek assisted death, even if their diagnosis is not terminal.

Similar to Canada, the person who is killed is not required to be terminally ill and there is no waiting period, which means that once approved a person can have a same-day death. The Associated Press also reported that:

Uruguay requires that those seeking euthanasia to be mentally competent.

Although the law does not outright ban euthanasia for those with mental conditions like depression, it requires that patients get two doctors to rule that they are psychologically fit enough to make the decision.

Unlike Belgium, Colombia and the Netherlands, Uruguay will not allow euthanasia for minors.

Sadly Uruguay has followed Canada's lead.

Uruguay needs to know that the number of euthanasia deaths in Canada have skyrocketed as Canada's loosely defined law has allowed euthanasia based on poverty, homelessness and an inability to obtain medical treatment.

Last year, a report from the Ontario Chief Coroner's MAiD Death Review Committee found that there around 428 non-compliant euthanasia deaths in Ontario alone from 2018 to 2023. 

The MDRC Committee also reported on a man in his forties who had been "involuntarily hospitalized" on mental health grounds who died by euthanasia after reacting to a Covid-19 vaccination. The post-mortem found "no pathological findings".

A recent report from the MDRC committee stated that:

A frail woman in her late 80s with dementia received MAID after a family member “brought forward” a request for an assisted death, a new report reveals.

The woman’s life was ended after a MAID provider deemed the woman had given her final expressed consent to proceed, based on her ability to repeat a question and squeeze the provider’s hand.

Euthanasia is legalized to prevent suffering, but it results in the abandonment of people at their greatest time of need. What is needed is to properly care for people, not kill them.

Hopefully Uruguay will reverse this decision in the near future.