Colombia is a country that flies under the radar as far as euthanasia goes. But it has one of the most progressive legal frameworks for euthanasia anywhere. (See article below.) Children over the age of 6 can request the right to die (with the approval of their parents). It may also be one of the jurisdictions where it is least used. Euthanasia has been permitted since 2015, but only 40 people have taken advantage of it — according to official records. Unofficially, there may be many more. As in other countries, activist doctors who are impatient with red tape take the law into their own hands. 

And bizarrely, Colombian voters have had no say in this momentous legal change.  “We have not had a big national debate about this, and I’m not very happy about it,” says a former Colombian health minister. “We need a public debate: We are not Belgium or Holland – this is at odds with people’s beliefs and mode of thought.” It would be good for a team of bioethcists to study the situation in Colombia with the same rigour as they have in Belgium, the Netherlands, or Canada. 

Michael Cook
Euthanasia for kids in Colombia
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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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