The One of Us Federation warns about dehumanization of euthanasia. Euthanasia means abandoning people hit by serious ill and disabilities considered without human dignity. This option does not make sense, from an ethical, medical and juridical point of view. One of us Federaton instead states the need to guarantee and improve palliative care, because human dignity is always equal. The real alternative to euthanasia is a robust and comprehensive palliative care system as a real reply to the needs to the patients and a authentic human, medical, spiritual assistance.
The countries in which euthanasia is implemented, such as the Netherlands or Belgium, Countries where euthanasia as Holland or Belgium is implemented make a warning about patients who “choose” euthanasia solely because their preference for palliative care is not available.
Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of One of Us: “The introduction of the euthanasia law takes us away from the most important thing, which is to give a real response to many people who suffer because there is not enough palliative care.”
For Justo Aznar, Director of the Life Sciences Institute and the Observatory of Bioethics of the Catholic University of Valencia: “The approach of the possibility of ending the life of a patient who suffers from unbearable suffering at a certain moment of his illness or in an experience of deep anguish, is a clear example of the failure of palliative medicine or, perhaps, the consequence of its non-use “.
On the other hand, euthanasia and assisted suicide distort medicine, violate its most elementary principles and denigrate those who advocate, defend, justify or facilitate them.
Federation One Of Us believes that “we must give an ethical and medical response to our society in the final stage of life of people and the only acceptable ethical response to the end of life is palliative care that neither deliberately precipitate death They do not prolong the agony unnecessarily, but rather they take care of the patient, relieving their pain while death arrives”.