[Right_to_die] Ability to refuse treatment when terminal in Mexico

[World right-to-die news (nonprofit)]

Bloomberg News reported 25 Nov 08:

Mexico to Allow Terminally Ill Patients to Refuse Treatment

By Adriana Lopez Caraveo and Jens Erik Gould

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican lawmakers approved a law allowing 
citizens suffering from terminal diseases and their families to refuse 
treatments that keep them alive.

The measure, unanimously approved by the Senate with one abstention 
today, only applies to patients who have a life expectancy of six months 
or less, said Ernesto Saro, head of the health committee. Doctors can’t 
stop giving patients food, water, psychological care and pain killers, 
he said.

The new legislation, already passed by the lower house of Congress, will 
allow families to stop spending money to preserve the life of terminal 
patients and help hospitals better use limited equipment, said Saro, a 
member of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN.

“I have seen cases where the family loses all they have due to doctor’s 
stubbornness,” Saro said. “Another problem is that hospitals don’t have 
enough equipment.”

Mexico didn’t previously have legislation allowing a terminal patient to 
refuse treatment, said Senator Lazaro Mazon of the Party of the 
Democratic Revolution. There is no legislation in Mexico that allows for 
euthanasia, which the American Medical Association refers to as the 
administration of a lethal agent to relieve incurable suffering.

Senators said the measure can’t be referred to as euthanasia because it 
doesn’t allow for assisted death.