The Ordem dos Médicos (OM) has changed chairman, but Carlos Cortes’ position on the decriminalization of medically assisted death does not differ from that of his predecessor. The new head of the Public Prosecution Service not only opposes, but personally upholds the refusal to appoint a representative to the Committee Verification and Evaluation of Clinical Operations Medically Assisted Death (CVA). This will be the entity responsible for confirming compliance with all legal steps, in any individual process of euthanasia or assisted suicide, and will be responsible for final authorization for the medically assisted death to take place.
Carlos Cortes says this is an issue “being analyzed” by the current Board of the Order of Physicians, “on an ethical and legal level”., with a decision expected within weeks. But personally, the current chairman has no doubts in following the position of the former management of OM, led by Miguel Guimarães. “The Chairman’s position is not to appoint anyone to the committee” the Verification and Evaluation of medically assisted death, says Carlos Cortes – “I will not name anyone”.
The Medical Association announced in June 2020 that it would refuse to appoint a representative for the CVA for the first time. In a letter addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic and to the Parliamentary Commission for Constitutional Affairs, the then President, Miguel Guimarães, argued that “everyone has the right to oppose orders that violate his rights, freedoms and guarantees” – which is the case, the Public Prosecution Service supported, since the responsibilities that this law assigns to doctors “contrary to the legal artis, medical ethics and deontology”. For this reason, according to the advice, the Public Prosecution Service “will refuse to appoint or appoint a doctor(s) to any committee provided for by law and/or to perform any act that results in direct or indirect cooperation and/or co-determination. of the Order of Physicians in preparatory procedures and/or execution of acts of anticipation of death on request or medically assisted death, in terms of euthanasia and assisted suicide”. A repeated rejection two years laterforwarding the same missive to the Assembly of the Republic.
At this point, the determination of the decriminalization of medically assisted death is already certain, as the text vetoed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in April was confirmed last Friday by an absolute majority of 129 deputies. A vote that obliges the President of the Republic to issue – which Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has already said he will do. After publication in the Diário da República, the government has 90 days to enact the law, which will come into force 30 days after the publication of the regulation. After that, the operational conditions will have to be created so that a medically assisted death can be carried out and it is here that, if this refusal by the Public Prosecution Service takes place, the process can be hindered in some way.
“The law must be obeyed”
Isabel Moreira, a PS deputy who has been one of the main faces of the future law, and who is also a constitutionalist, does not want to comment at this time, when the legislative process in the Assembly of the Republic has been completed and the decree is in force about to go to Belém. But Isabel Moreira already referred to the objections of the Public Prosecution Service and noted that on the day it becomes law, the new legislation must be complied with.
Pedro Costa Gonçalves, specialist in administrative law, has no doubt that the Public Prosecution Service will have to appoint a representative for the CVA. Although he emphasizes that he does not know this specific issue in detail, the professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra emphasizes that, once faced with a diploma approved in parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic, the “law must be fulfilled”. And this is a reality from which the Order of Physicians cannot escape. If the law places the responsibility for an indication with the Public Prosecution Service, this “authority is not present”: “Competences are not rights, but powers/duties. If this competence is transferred to the Public Prosecution Service, it means a duty”. Moreover, in the case of a public entity. “Public institutions cannot disagree with the legislature and the orders that the legislature imposes on them”, says Pedro Costa Goncalves. If the Public Prosecution Service nevertheless refuses to do what the law prescribes, then it becomes a court case, through the appropriate action from conviction to committing acts.
In addition to the final authorization, the CVA will be responsible for preparing the evaluation report of each case of assisted suicide or euthanasia, as well as for the annual presentation to the Assembly of the Republic of a report containing statistical information on medical assisted death. The entity will consist of five members: two lawyers, to be appointed by the Supreme Council for the Judiciary and by the Supreme Council for the Public Prosecution Service; a doctor appointed by the Public Prosecution Service; a nurse designated by the relevant scheme; and an expert in bioethics designated by the National Council on Ethics for the Life Sciences.
Source: DN
