After the adoption of the new public health law on Friday, Cuba accepted euthanasia for people in the terminal stages and dying.
Only a few countries have permitted euthanasia or assisted suicide. These include Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, New Zealand and some states in the United States. In Latin America, Colombia is the only country that allows this practice.
The procedure is aimed at “people with chronic degenerative and irreversible diseases, with incurable suffering, who are in the death or final phase of their life or who have suffered injuries that put them in this state.”
“It would be very practical to define euthanasia in general terms: it is killing without pain and intentionally through apparently medical measures, all of which implies a deep ethical dilemma, a conflict that is very difficult to resolve: on the one hand is the law , that “a person must end his life for legitimate reasons, and on the other hand, we doctors have a duty to save lives at all costs and to alleviate all suffering and pain, to preserve the life of the individual,” explained Dr. Eduardo Cardet from Velasco, Holguin.
“It is something that was introduced by the regime as a novelty, perhaps to give the appearance that it corresponds to a trend that currently exists in many first world countries, but it is actually not a large-scale approach.” Majority of the Cuban population, perhaps there are some people in Cuba who have spoken about the issue, but nothing more. There was no consultation process or anything similar,” emphasized the doctor and human rights activist.
The Cuban Minister of Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, emphasized after the adoption of the law that the drafting group of the legal instrument had promoted dissemination measures and that there had been 64 collective consultations in the country.
The regulations approved by the National Assembly of People's Power come into force when a regulation is adopted to apply them.
“One of the disadvantages of euthanasia is that it is a phenomenon that begins as an exception and can end up becoming a normal alternative in which abuses are committed. There are currently countless forms of therapy and medications to relieve pain and provide palliative care to people with terminal illnesses, but we will no longer know if there is ultimately no solution for that person given medical science and the current resources available worldwide or whether it is a deficiency that is specific or typical of Cuba’s failed system,” Cardet said pointedly.
In this context, Jorge Armando Hechavarría Méndez, a resident of the Luyanó neighborhood in Havana, said that the island's authorities “attribute powers that I believe belong only to God.”
“The state approved euthanasia, but the population never gave their consent. They met and agreed to this unilaterally and this will result in the elderly and helpless people who have no resources being left to die, but this has been happening for a long time, now they want a situation that is like this “Giving legal status has been happening in Cuba for about 8 or 10 years.”
“People without resources die because they have no medicine, because there are no adequate hospitals or equipment to treat the most vulnerable people, as they tell the wretched.” They will continue to die without any treatment, they do this just to to justify their inefficiency, but I am sure that they will not make this decision to their families,” noted Hechavarría Méndez.
From a religious or existential point of view, “it is a direct attack on the sacramentality of life, the right to life is above the will of people,” stressed Cardet.
The Cuban Catholic Church has not yet decided on the inclusion of euthanasia in the new health law, but like the rest of the world, its opposition on the issue is known.
“We defend the human right to life, life is sacred, life is given to us by God, from the moment of conception to the moment of natural end. Therefore, any form of euthanasia or assisted suicide, or any way of ending life contrary to God's plans, contrary to the natural end, is immoral. “On the other hand, we think that we must help the elderly and sick people feel so loved that they do not wish for death,” said Father Rolando Montes de Oca of the Archdiocese of Camagüey.
“We are very concerned that these laws create a culture of death, which in the long term will make sick or elderly people feel like a hindrance or a burden in society, which should never happen.” So before we pass any laws or To promote this, we would have to strive to create a better quality of life, to provide more support, to love and to ensure that people never feel like an obstacle or a burden, for whatever reason,” said the Catholic priests.
Pope Francis has repeatedly reiterated his rejection of euthanasia and ensured that “lives are not played with.”
Father Alejandro Hernández Cepero of the Aliá del Regreso al Buen Camino ministry, whose parishioners live in the La Palma parish of the capital's Arroyo Naranjo parish, emphasized that “no one has the right to take the life of another person, yet.” to take it for yourself.
“Approval of euthanasia in Cuba is another mask that the regime puts on to manipulate international public opinion and the few people who still believe that the government is doing things for the good of the people.” “The regime wants itself show itself as a pioneering state in the health sector,” emphasized the priest.
The Public Health Law, which replaces the current 1983 law, excludes any type of private medical practice or insurance institution.
In this sense, it is founded in Article 46 of the Constitution, which recognizes health as one of the rights of Cubans, and in Article 72, which states that “it is the responsibility of the State to ensure access, freeness and quality of health care to ensure services”. “of care, protection and recovery.”
“The Cuban regime has promised to provide health care of a certain quality, but the problem arises when these promises have to be fulfilled, starting from the current reality, the terrible state of the national health system.” The most logical thing is to doubt that this is possible,” said Cardet.
“As always, they retain absolute control over essential services such as health and education. As far as public health is concerned, they deny the legal and comprehensive service of private medicine, which is not the solution but rather an alternative to creating a health system that takes into account all possibilities and in which there is a wide development of health services,” added he added.
In accordance with the statements of Dr. Cardet told Havana resident Hechavarría Méndez that the Cuban state does not guarantee adequate public health care.
“The law does not reflect the Cuban reality at all, since medicines stopped being free in this country a long time ago. If you don't have money or don't have family abroad who can send you medicine, you can't receive effective treatment. In my mother's case, they told me to look for metronidazole on my own. “It wasn’t proper care and my mother died.”
Hechavarría Méndez's mother, Delia Rosa Méndez Calzadilla, 79, had to be admitted to the Miguel Enríquez hospital, known as La Benéfica, where she died three days later without doctors explaining the illness that led to her death .
Boatswain Néstor Cintra thinks the same: “I lost a sister with cancer due to medical negligence. But even if he were suffering because of his illness, I would not have allowed euthanasia to be used on him. “No one has the authority to take or order to take someone’s life.”
On social networks, Internet users have debated the accepted method of euthanasia, such as this comment from José Valdés: “Feeding fewer mouths and caring for sick people will mean a great saving of resources and money, very pragmatic given the circumstances.” .”
While Abdel Oviedo wrote: “It is the most humane and dignified law that can exist. I support it with both hands.”
User Roberto Cruz responded to Oviedo: “This is very important, but more important and necessary is a law that protects the right of Cubans to live with dignity.”