¿La eutanasia está legalizada en Colombia? A propósito de la nueva guía del Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social

Euthanasia is to deliberately cause the death of a patient in order to end his/her suffering. The Constitutional court has authorised its practice since 1997, even although it is an offence in the Colombian penal code, and the political constitution establishes life as an inviolable right. This leads to a situation of uncertainty about how to proceed, and even more so when the Ministry of Health has recently published a guideline for euthanasia, in compliance with that determined by the court. The aim of this article was to examine the concepts about euthanasia in Colombia, from the point of view of medicine and law. A literature research was performed to systematically review secondary sources from world literature, with emphasis in academic publications and Colombian statutes from the last 10 years in national journals, and in the last 5 years for international ones. Some books and theses were included. The more relevant publications were reviewed according to author's criteria, but no statistical analysis was included. A total of 9,668 publications were found, out of which 44 of them were assessed. In conclusion, there is still legal discussion and bioethical concerns about performing euthanasia, especially when it involves a third part of a noble profession like medicine. Experience as in Holland, Belgium, and American states like Oregon, have developed from a larger process of an organised and clear legislative discussion, while there is discussion in the Colombian case about the competency of the Constitutional court to modify a precept established in the Constitution, which causes legal uncertainty to apply the guideline introduced by the Ministry of Health.