Mexico City passes 'right to die' law

Mexico City, Jan 9 (IANS) The administration of the capital city of Mexico has passed an ordinance legalising the right to die by terminally ill people.
 
The law, which allows only withholding of treatment and not medically assisted death of a patient, has come into force from Tuesday only at the government run hospitals in the Mexico City, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.
 
The law authorises anyone who signs the so-called 'living will' to reject 'tenacious, disproportionate or useless' medical treatment that would, in their opinion, unnecessarily lengthen the 'inevitable dying process'.
 
It further states that the health care personnel attending the terminally ill patients may not 'at any time and under any circumstances' administer medications or medical treatments that 'intentionally cause the death of the patient in the terminal phase'.
 
Mexican Catholic Church spokesman Hugo Valdemar said that it does not oppose the law, as it does not fall under the definition of euthanasia. Euthanasia allows overt and intentional action to 'cause' death of the patient.

Los enfermos desahuciados que radiquen en la Ciudad de México ya cuentan con una ley que les permitirá rechazar tratamientos médicos que alarguen su padecimiento, para morir de forma natural.
 
Así lo determinó el pleno de la Asamblea Legislativa del Distrito Federal (ALDF), que aprobó por unanimidad la denominada Ley de Voluntad Anticipada o del "bien morir".
 
Esta nueva ley permite a cualquier ciudadano de la capital del país, que esté en pleno uso de sus facultades mentales y padezca una enfermedad incurable, suscribir un documento notarial en el que decida suspender el tratamiento que no mejore su estado de salud y que sólo esté destinado a mantenerlo con vida.