Overview
- President Yamandú Orsi signed the regulatory decree on Wednesday, April 15, bringing the 2025 “Ley de Muerte Digna” into force and opening the door to immediate implementation.
- The rules cover adults who are mentally competent and face an incurable, irreversible condition in a terminal stage or suffering they deem intolerable, with access limited to citizens and legal residents.
- The process requires a written request to a physician, evaluations by two doctors, and a final written confirmation by the patient before witnesses to show the choice is free and sustained.
- The decree tasks the Health Ministry with forming a review commission and the law protects conscientious objectors as long as institutions ensure non-objecting staff, while clinicians who follow the law receive civil and criminal immunity.
- The move has intensified regional discussion as Mexican advocacy groups press senators to slow action on the proposed “Ley Trasciende” and to expand palliative care, a contrast to Uruguay’s approach of legislating euthanasia after parliamentary debate.