Atencion primaria
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The Spanish Euthanasia Law introduces a new right that is added to the portfolio of services provided by the Spanish health system and whose application is guaranteed within a period of 40 days. From the perspective of clinical experience, it is argued that without the effective right to quality palliative care and given the current shortcomings in dependant care, this law may send a threatening message to particularly fragile and dependant individuals that will lead to them feeling like a burden to their families and society. ⋯ There are issues that require clarification with regard to the application of euthanasia within the context of general practice. The conclusion is that this new law will pose more problems of the type it aims to resolve.
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The approval of the euthanasia law represents a challenge for medicine and culminates a process of civic maturation of society in the face of death. There are challenges that the application of the law will have to meet. ⋯ Euthanasia should be an exception thanks to the existence of strong clinical, informational and relational safeguards that can only be guaranteed in the context of a solvent primary care that accompanies people throughout their lives. In this primarist and community context, euthanasia can be the last resort of a professional committed to not abandoning a patient with severe and irreversible suffering who requests it.