Eutanasia, ética , dignidad, compasión y Atención Primaria

La visión de un médico de familia

Abstract

EUTHANASIA, ETHICS, DIGNITY, COMPASSION AND PRIMARY CARE. THE VISION OF A FAMILY DOCTOR 

Living closely the unbearable suffering of the patient, in a context of hopelessness, promotes a feeling of empathy and compassion that necessarily moves to reflection. The regulation of euthanasia resolves the legal issue, but not ethics, of a complexity that makes unanimously reconciling, because it concerns the individual and collective meaning of death. The coexistence consists in respecting diversity and requires a legal and political space that guarantees it. Solidarity, empathy and, finally, compassion (shared by supporters and professionals who are against euthanasia regulation) are inevitable feelings in an euthanasic context. From that perspective and attending to the well -being and rights of the patient, it must be built a public space that shouldn’t be perceived as an imposition. For the same reason is necessary an adaptation of the current deontological codes, which leave most professionals favourable to the Law out of their "protection". The palliative response to the demand for euthanasia regulation does not resolve the ethical issue of the substantive and usually forgotten Primary Care, as guarantor and responsible for palliative care.