The right to a “death with dignity” may be requested by mentally fit adults who are in the terminal stage of an incurable and irreversible pathology, or who, as a consequence of incurable and irreversible pathologies or health conditions, suffer suffering that is unbearable.
Mexico City, October 16 (However).– The Senate of Uruguay ha approved Wednesday night ley what regulates euthanasiathus turning the South American country into the first in Latin America in carrying out the legislative process to regulate what the text defines as “death with dignity”. Furthermore, it is the third in the region where it has been decriminalized.
With 20 votes in favor of the total of 31 senators, the ruling party of the Wide Front has added to its 17 seats the support of the nationalist Graciela Bianchi and the Colorado senators Ope Pasquet – who promoted a similar proposal in 2020 – and Heber Duque, according to the Uruguayan newspaper. The Observer.
The text, in its first article, establishes as the objective of the law “to regulate and guarantee the right of people to undergo the process of dying with dignity.”
Copy. Uruguay passed the euthanasia law. If a person suffers from an incurable disease and extreme suffering, they can choose a dignified death. The individual right to put an end to intolerable agony is recognized. That is respect for freedom pic.twitter.com/KPlM1J959b
— Vilma Ibarra (@VilmaIbarraL) October 16, 2025
According to the second, this right may be requested by “any person of legal age, mentally fit, who is in the terminal stage of an incurable and irreversible pathology, or who, as a consequence of incurable and irreversible pathologies or health conditions, suffers suffering that is unbearable, in all cases with serious and progressive deterioration in their quality of life.”
Said request must be presented in writing to a doctor, who, within a period of three days, will have to verify that the required conditions are met, will reason his position and inform the patient of the available treatments, including palliative ones, in order to “verify that the will he expresses is free, serious and firm.”
After that, a second doctor would study the case and interview the patient within a maximum period of five days. To its end and to confirm the opinion of the first, “the procedure will continue its course”, which would be completed by the communication of the patient before two witnesses of his desire to continue in an act in which the date of euthanasia would be agreed.
The approval of the law has been a cause for celebration by several political representatives, such as the Secretary of the Presidency, Alejandro Sánchez, who has highlighted that Uruguay “is once again a pioneer in the rights agenda.”
A Uruguay that is once again a pioneer in the rights agenda.
The approval of the death with dignity law speaks of a deep commitment to human dignity and freedom.
Today’s vote reflects the struggle of many, of a responsible debate, of a dialogue…
— Alejandro Sánchez (@pachasanchez) October 16, 2025
“The approval of the death with dignity law speaks of a deep commitment to human dignity and freedom,” he stressed on the social network X, in a publication that concluded with a plea to “honor life with the conviction that in the end, choosing is dignity.”
Senator Daniel Caggiani also had positive words, who highlighted on the same platform that the country is today “a little freer and more humane.” “We especially send our warm hug to all those affected by painful illnesses, who have been fighting for a long time for the right to decide about their own life and the end of their sufferings,” he said.
Several senators have shown their opposition during the session, such as Martín Lema, of the center-right National Party, who questioned, referring to the name of the law, that if someone is “fighting” for their life “they deserve the concept of being unworthy because death gives them the dignity that they do not have in life,” according to the Uruguayan newspaper. The Country.
Honoring the best liberal and humanitarian tradition of Uruguay, we voted for the Euthanasia law.
Bright @opepasquet pic.twitter.com/l6SBYd3g9M— Robert Silva (@RobertSilvaUy) October 15, 2025
From the Colorado Party, Senator Pedro Bordaberry has criticized the project for “major drafting errors” and for being, in his opinion, written “from the point of view exclusively of doctors”, ignoring the legal point of view. Furthermore, he has alleged that palliative care is not available throughout the country, which restricts the patient’s freedom, as stated in a presentation in which he defended that the law “overrides constitutional and legal norms but, above all, the possibility of offering other alternatives.”
However, the legalization of euthanasia has found support in its own bench thanks to Ope Pasquet, who already in 2020 launched a campaign that ended up stalled in 2022 in the Senate, then dominated by the National Party, after being approved by the Lower House.
On this occasion, Pasquet has supported the approval of the norm by raising the question of whether “an adult person, in their right mind, has the right to die when they decide or does they have the duty to live until natural death occurs?”
#Uruguay After ten hours of discussion, the Senate gave final sanction and the Law of Dignified Death in Uruguay was approved. In this way, the South American country becomes the first in Latin America to legalize Euthanasia. @teleSURtv pic.twitter.com/PIgFIN5sP4
— Mateo Grille (@mateoteleSUR) October 16, 2025
“Let’s vote for the law of dignified death and we will be honoring the best libertarian and humanitarian tradition of Uruguay,” he urged the chamber.
Uruguay, pioneer in regulating euthanasia
The Eastern Republic of Uruguay has thus become the first country in Latin America to regulate euthanasia, or “death with dignity”, in the region. However, he is not the only one who has decriminalized it.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador issued the regulations for the application of Active Voluntary Euthanasia in Ecuador, in compliance with the ruling of the Constitutional Court (CC) of that country. In that case, it was by order of its highest court, and not as a result of a legislative process.
Euthanasia, according to regulation of Ecuador, is a procedure that consists of the administration of drugs in lethal doses, with the objective of causing early death to a person with a serious and incurable disease or serious and irreversible bodily injury, requested voluntarily, informed and unequivocally by the patient or their legal representative.
For its part, Colombia decriminalized euthanasia in 1997 by a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Colombia; In 2015 it was regulated by several resolutions of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, ratified with rulings from the highest court. In 2021, the Court opened the way to euthanasia for patients with chronic diseases. In 2017, he had already done it for minors.
The government resolutions of 2018 are related to the Right to a dignified death for children and adolescents and in 2021 the procedure for receiving, processing and reporting euthanasia requests was published. However, as in Ecuador, the Colombian Congress has not carried out a legislative process that regularizes these processes.
Until 2024, there are seven other countries where euthanasia has been decriminalized: in addition to Colombia, Ecuador and now Uruguay, “death with dignity” is also possible in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Spain, New Zealand and Portugal, each with its particularities. In Mexico, it remains prohibited, despite attempts to reform the General Health Law.
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