Overview
- Esteban Paulón formally introduced the bill on Tuesday, May 26, proposing a law to legalize both euthanasia and assisted death under the name “muerte voluntaria médicamente asistida.”
- The text distinguishes euthanasia, where a clinician administers a lethal substance, from assisted death, where a doctor supplies medication for patient self‑administration.
- Eligibility rules in the draft include age 16 or older, at least one year of Argentine residence, a diagnosis of a serious incurable illness or a chronic disabling condition that causes intolerable suffering, and two requests separated by at least 15 days with capacity to consent.
- The proposal requires an interdisciplinary counseling team, an independent medical consultant and a Commission of Evaluation and Guarantees to confirm diagnosis and capacity, and it obliges prior access to palliative care while allowing individual conscientious objection but banning institutional refusal.
- The bill would amend the Penal Code to exempt health workers who follow the law and add the procedures to the Programa Médico Obligatorio for full coverage; political support is uncertain and the measure is at introduction stage not yet scheduled for a floor debate.