Assisted suicide in Spain?

"Spain could soon pass a law making euthanasia legal," writes the daily La Repubblica commenting on the discussion about the introduction of a law on assisted suicide. "[Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez] Zapatero avoided the subject in his election manifesto in March, probably out of fear that it could draw criticism from the Church. But since the Socialists' party conference in July, where the importance of a dignified death was underlined, the government suddenly seems to be in a hurry and has now made the unpleasant term 'assisted suicide' part of its vocabulary. To carry out the reform it will be necessary to amend the penal law under which assisting suicide is illegal in Spain today. ... The legal commission will need 18 months to pave the way for the amendment, which means it would come two years before the end of the current legislative period. This is plenty of time to pass the new law in parliament. [Thus] in Spain similar regulations could soon enter force to those in the Netherlands and Belgium, where doctors have the option of helping patients to commit suicide if that is the patient's express wish."

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