[Euthanasia in Chile]

Abstract

Euthanasia is a complex medical procedure. Even though end of life decisions are common situations in health practice, there is a lack of consensus about their terminology. In this manuscript, the main concepts about this issue are defined and delimited; including active and passive euthanasia and limitation of therapeutic effort. Then, a revision is made about the international experience on euthanasia, to then go through the Chile’s history in euthanasia and the population’s opinion. In Chile, euthanasia is an act that has been removed from the social dialogue and legislation. In order to have an open discussion in our population about the issue, the debate has to be opened to the citizens, accompanied by clear medical information about the procedure.