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LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal’s parliament voted on Friday to legalise euthanasia, setting the country up to become the seventh in the world to allow terminally ill patients to seek assistance from a doctor to end their life.
“With this vote, parliament added dignity to our democracy,” Left Bloc lawmaker Jose Manuel Pureza said, calling the approval by 136-78 votes with four abstentions a “democratic answer to fundamentalism and fear”.
The law legalises the practice in certain cases and under strict rules.
People aged over 18 will be allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and suffering from “lasting” and “unbearable” pain - unless they are deemed not to be mentally fit to make such a decision.
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Sputnik International
The law legalizes the practice in certain cases and under strict rules.
People aged over 18 will be allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and suffering from “lasting” and “unbearable” pain – unless they are deemed not to be mentally fit to make such a decision.
The process will only be open to national citizens and legal residents in order to prevent people from traveling to Portugal to get medical help to end their life.
The law will be in the hands of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a conservative, from next week for a final stamp of approval. Rebelo de Sousa, who has previously said he will respect parliament’s vote, will have 20 days to consider it..