Castile-La Mancha closed the year 2024 with a total of 26 requests for euthanasiaof which eight concluded that the offer of assistance in dying was effective, according to the latest annual report on the offer of assistance in dying published by the … Ministry of Health.
These figures place the community in the map of autonomous law enforcement, in effect since June 2021, and reflect still limited but progressive implementation of the right to euthanasia.
The data corresponding to 2024 is part of the processes carried out during the year, which includes both requests presented and resolved that year as well as some initiated in previous years. In the Castilian-Manchego case, theMost requests did not result in an effective servicewhether due to refusal, voluntary revocation or death of the applicant during processing.
People over 60 years old
Generally speaking, the profile of people who request euthanasia maintains a clear trend that can also be extrapolated to Castilla-La Mancha: most of them are people over 60 years old, many of whom in advanced stages of serious and incurable illnesses. The most common underlying pathologies in this type of request are neurological and oncological diseases, which represent more than six out of ten cases.
The report also highlights that a significant part of the procedures correspond to patients with full decision-making capacity at the time of the requestwhile others are processed using advance instruction documents, a tool that allows you to provide advance notice of your willingness to receive this benefit in the event of loss of capacity to decide.
Since the entry into force of the law, euthanasia is increasingly present in the health system, even if its application remains uneven and surrounded by a guarantee process that involves medical, legal and ethical evaluations.
In Castile-La Mancha, 2024 data shows that the use of This advantage remains exceptionalbut already integrated into the community’s health rights portfolio.
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