A Quarter of Euthanasia Applicants Die While Awaiting Approval

When marking the fourth anniversary of the euthanasia law's enactment, figures show that while this right for patients is increasingly established in our country, the degree of application varies significantly depending on the political will of the respective autonomous community. At the same time, there is a persistent failure to meet the maximum deadlines set by the law for patient responses. This is the assessment of the fourth anniversary of the law by the association Right to Die with Dignity (DMD), the organization of professionals and families that most strongly advocated for the law's approval and has been most involved in its implementation.

The leaders of DMD estimate that since June 25, 2021, around 3,000 severely ill and incurable patients, or those with severe chronic and disabling conditions, have requested euthanasia in Spain. Approximately 1,300 of them have been able to exercise this right, which is about 40%, despite two out of three requests being authorized. Excluding the approximately 6% who withdraw or postpone the service once authorized, the gap between authorizations and services exercised is due to one of DMD's main complaints: 25% of applicants die before the medical and health administration can complete the processing of their request.

The law states that no more than 30 days should pass between the euthanasia request and the final response. This is the maximum time the law deems necessary for decisions to be made by the initial doctor, a second doctor reviewing the case's compliance with the law, and for the report from the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission, the autonomous decision-making body, to arrive. However, the current average time between request and response in Spain is 49 days, which is even longer in some regions. DMD spokespersons point out that these processing times are "excessive and unacceptable for terminally ill people" and that to expedite them, it is necessary to ensure that applicants can speak with the doctor who will initiate the process within a maximum of two or three days and to improve the training of professionals.

The vice president of DMD, Fernando Marín, summarized the situation by stating that "euthanasia is making its way in Spain, but very slowly and with many inequalities between regions." He commented that it is undeniable that the law is taking root, as evidenced by the 960 applications submitted in 2024, a 25% increase from the previous year, and 427 euthanasias performed, a 28% increase in 2023. This progress continues the trend from two years ago, when there was a 33% increase in applications and a 16% increase in euthanasias compared to 2022.

The figures for assisted dignified deaths in Spain rise year after year, although they are still far from those of other European countries where the provision of assistance to die has been legal for a longer time. For this reason, they consider that, "with the existing data, it is not correct to say that the service functions adequately throughout the country, as claimed by the Ministry of Health." Marín called for "political will" to reduce "the inequality" that exists between the various regions and urged private healthcare to comply with the law, as their euthanasia figures are marginal, "since they refuse to perform them and refer them to the public sector, which handles more than 90% of the cases."

DMD spokespersons called for legislative changes to prevent the halting of court-approved euthanasias, as has happened in the cases of Noelia and Francesc, two residents of Barcelona who have been unable to exercise their wish despite having the green light from doctors for ten months. In both cases, it was the parents, represented by ultra-Catholic organizations, who have so far managed to halt the assisted death against their children's will, despite them being the sole holders of the right and not incapacitated to exercise it. The Supreme Court will now have to set a precedent on this matter, as the Generalitat has appealed one of the judicial resolutions.

"These two individuals requested the provision of assistance to die and were approved, but they are being forced to live against their will due to legal challenges filed by their families, in a euthanasia context of loss of dignity due to the irreversible deterioration of their quality of life and constant and intolerable suffering," the association denounces, lamenting that the justice system "lends itself to the manipulation of groups seeking to impose their ideology against a democratically approved law."