From a legal point of view, euthanasia is the behavior that, according to the will or interest of another person suffering from an incurable injury or disease, usually fatal, causes serious suffering and significantly affects his quality of life, leads to the production, anticipation or non-postponement of the life of the person concerned. Euthanasia is therefore any act or omission that causes the immediate death of a person in order to avoid unbearable suffering or the artificial prolongation of his life. This is the so-called true euthanasia, which consists in dying well without shortening life, and which is not only not a crime, but in all respects a dignified and very valuable activity. In euthanasia, there is a serious individual conflict between the person suffering from an incurable disease and suffering from serious suffering who wants to die, and the help of a third party who, for reasons of piety, promotes the anticipation of death. It is euthanasia imposed without the consent of the person concerned. Indirect euthanasia involves the use of therapeutic procedures that have the side effect of death, as is the case with morphine, to relieve pain, but also to lead to a decrease in consciousness and vital tone. In this case, it is intended to relieve suffering, but as a result, the patient`s life is shortened. 3.- It shall be punishable by imprisonment of six to ten years if cooperation results in the execution of the death penalty. However, since this type of behaviour is usually motivated on humanitarian grounds and taking into account the consent of the victim, this behaviour is punished much more harmless than ordinary murder. This type of euthanasia can consist of therapeutic abstention and therapeutic abortion. Euthanasia is a very complex phenomenon in which many possibilities are distinguished. First and foremost, a distinction is made between direct and indirect euthanasia. The (very light) sentence for the crime of euthanasia can be up to two years, depending on the situation, with which the active subject can request the suspension of the execution of the sentence.
Only direct active euthanasia is characterized. Passive or indirect euthanasia does not fall into the criminal category. Article 143 of the Criminal Code makes it clear: it consists of causing a painless death at the request of the person concerned if he is the victim of very painful or progressive and seriously disabling incurable diseases. 2. Any person who participates in acts necessary for the suicide of a person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of two to five years. That his death cooperates with the necessary actions or that the death is directly caused. It does not require the situation of an incurable situation, but of a serious illness that would result in death or permanent serious suffering, an indefinite legal concept subject to different interpretations. As you know, suicide or attempted suicide is not punishable, but on the contrary, on the basis of the respect and protection that human life deserves, it is not lawful to incite suicide or to cooperate in a necessary manner, which even causes the death of the person who wants to commit suicide. It involves stopping the treatment of a disease knowing that death will eventually occur without ceasing to care for the patient.
4.- Anyone who, at the express, serious and unequivocal request of the victim, suffers from a serious illness which necessarily and directly causes or actively participates in the death of another, if the victim suffers from a serious illness which would necessarily lead to his death or which causes serious and permanent suffering and is difficult to bear, shall be punished by punishment, which is one or two degrees lower than that indicated in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the present judgment. Article. In these cases, severely harmful substances or drug overdoses, especially morphine, are often used. With regard to the patient`s consent or request, it is required that it be explicit (oral or written), serious and unambiguous. It must be the product of reflection, and the patient`s will must not give rise to doubts as to its existence or not, so that it cannot be derived from alleged actions. In the first case, treatment is not started and in the second case, the treatment already started is suspended, because it is considered to prolong more than life, but prolongs suffering and certain death. Article 143 describes two criminal offences, incitement and cooperation in matters of succession. It requires: the death of the taxpayer, consent in the form of an application, a serious and clear express request from the holder of the right to life that the applicant be in a situation of serious illness which would result in death or suffer serious permanent and intolerable suffering. That there is an explicit and unambiguous request from the patient to cooperate or cause his death. No one doubts the bad wording of Article 143.4 of the Spanish Penal Code, but it is the one we have now. It consists of the provision of palliative care measures that relieve suffering or make it bearable, in the emotional and spiritual support of the terminally ill.
1.- Anyone who causes the suicide of another person shall be punished by imprisonment for four to eight years. Information created in collaboration with Álvarez Abogados de Tenerife. According to article 143 of the Criminal Code, the legal interest protected is life, regardless of whether the victim is the one who freely disposes of or consents to his or her life. At the same time, assisted suicide does not exist in our law, so if it is regulated, it should be created as a novelty. The first is to bring forward the death of a person with an incurable disease and allow two options. It involves intentionally and knowingly providing a person with the exact means or procedures for committing suicide, including advice on lethal doses of drugs, prescribing, or providing these deadly drugs. It is a form of therapeutic cruelty that prolongs the death of the patient by resorting to artificial means, knowing that there is no cure, sometimes reaches absolutely inhumane conditions and is alien to the interest of the patient.