New Delhi: Uruguay’s Senate has approved a landmark bill decriminalising euthanasia, making the country the first in predominantly Catholic Latin America to legalise the practice through legislation. The vote, held on Wednesday, places Uruguay alongside a small group of nations where terminally ill patients can legally seek medical assistance to end their lives.

While countries such as Colombia and Ecuador have previously decriminalised euthanasia, they did so via rulings by their Supreme Courts rather than legislative action. 

The legislation allows for euthanasia, the act of a healthcare professional directly administering life-ending medication to a consenting, seriously ill patient. However, it does not legalise assisted suicide, where the patient self-administers the lethal dose, a distinction also observed in several other jurisdictions.

What is India’s stand regarding euthanasia?

In contrast, India permits only passive euthanasia under strict guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. Passive euthanasia, which involves the withdrawal of life support for terminally ill patients, is legal, whereas active euthanasia, which involves a deliberate act to cause death, remains a criminal offence under the Indian Penal Code.

The Supreme Court of India recognised passive euthanasia and upheld the right of individuals to issue advance directives, or ‘living wills’. The ruling empowered terminally ill patients to refuse life-sustaining treatment if their condition was deemed medically irreversible.

Globally, euthanasia is legal in countries such as Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Spain.

In Australia, all six states including New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, and Western Australia, have passed laws permitting voluntary assisted dying.

Portugal and Uruguay have now also enacted legislation, although regulatory frameworks for implementation are still pending.