The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, this Wednesday vetoed the diploma on medically assisted death and returned the new version of the decree to the Assembly of the Republic without promulgation. This time, the head of state does not send a diploma to the Constitutional Court, but asks parliament for clarification on two points.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “only addresses the addition introduced in this new version, which considers that the patient cannot choose between assisted suicide and euthanasia, since he can only resort to euthanasia when he is physically prevented from getting help to commit suicide,” begins by referring to to the head of state in a note issued by the Presidency of the Republic.
“As a result of this innovation, it is important to clarify who recognizes and testifies to such an impossibility. On the other hand, it is necessary to clarify who should supervise physician-assisted suicide. That is, which doctor should intervene in one and the other situation.”, indicates the President of the Republic.
In this way, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa asks the Assembly of the Republic to clarify these two issues. “Specific, I ask the Assembly of the Republic to consider clarifying who defines the patient’s physical inability to self-administer lethal drugs, as well as who must ensure medical supervision during the act of medically assisted death.”reads in the letter that the head of state addressed to parliament.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argues that “given this sensitivity and given the very short parliamentary debate on the last two amendments, it seems prudent to ensure any conceptual dilution, also because of the step taken and its largely original nature in comparative law”.
The fourth diploma of the parliament on medically assisted death was approved on March 31 in a final vote and, after establishing the final wording, published in the Diário da República last Thursday, April 13.
In earlier versions of the diploma, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa twice asked for appreciation of the text’s constitutionality, having also politically vetoed one of the diplomas approved by the delegates.
Updated
Source: DN
