Argentina: Top Court Rules for Family of Patient in a Right-to-Die Case
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Version 0 of 1. In a landmark decision, Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a patient who has required life support for two decades can be allowed to die, renewing debate here over a so-called death with dignity law. In their ruling, the justices fended off resistance against a measure approved in 2012 by lawmakers that allows patients, or their relatives, to refuse life support. The patient, Marcelo Diez, who is reported to be around 50, has been in a vegetative state since a motorcycle crash in 1994. Mr. Diez’s sisters asked that life support be removed, but officials in Neuquén Province objected and used his case to challenge the 2012 measure. In a television interview, Lucas Pica, their lawyer, criticized figures in the Catholic Church who he said had resisted their moves in the courts. |