In Portugal, euthanasia and assisted suicide are both forbidden by the Portugese Penal Code.
In 2021 this seemed to change. A bill about medical assisted dying was approved by Portugese parliament and only needed the signature of the Portugese President.
The President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was not against the bill but first asked the constitutional Court to evaluate the law – a step which he can take under Portugal’s constitution. In March a split court rejected the bill (the vote was 7 to 5). The judges called the law “imprecise”. This decision left the door open to euthanasia provided that the legislation was better drafted. However, at this moment there is no law that allows or regulates euthanasia or assisted suicide.
Article 134 of the Penal Code forbids murder at request (euthanasia).
The punishment for it is up to three years.
Also an attempt is punishable.
Article 135 of the Penal Code forbids assisted suicide.
The punishment for it is up to three years.
If the person to whom he is providing help is under 16 years of age or has no ability to value or determine his own interests, the agent shall be punished with imprisonment from 1 to 5 years.
In 2020, 5 bills about legal assisted dying, including euthanasia, were introduced in and approved by Portugese Parliament.
These were merged into one bill, and on the 29th of January 2021 this bill was approved by Parliament too.
The merged bill about medically assisted dying provides that a person can request medically assisted death or euthanasia.
The person’s will should be current and reiterated, serious, free and enlightened.
And the person should be in a situation of intolerable suffering, with definitive injury of extreme severity according to scientific consensus or incurable and fatal disease.
In these cases, euthanasia “is not legally punishable when practiced or helped by health professionals”.
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