The Balearic Islands is one of the autonomous communities in which a greater proportion of its population required euthanasia last year. This emerges from the 2023 annual evaluation report on the provision of aid in dying in Spain released Thursday by the Ministry of Health.
Specifically, last year -the second full year since the entry into force of Organic Law 3/2021, of March 24, on the regulation of euthanasia-766 requests for euthanasia were made throughout Spain, representing a 32.9 % increase over the 576 in 2022. The report notes that of the 766 requests received last year, 334 were executed (43 %); of the 188 denied, 78 claims were filed, 32 of which were favorably resolved. In addition, of the applications accepted in 2023, 21 were revoked by the users and 33 were deferred; 190 applicants died during the process, with an average time of 30 days between application and death.
By autonomous community
In the Balearic Islands 37 requests for euthanasia were registered, of which 12 were carried out (32.9%). The number of requests implies an increase of 68.7% compared to the 22 requests in 2022. In relation to its population, the Balearic Islands is the fourth autonomous community with the highest proportion of people requesting euthanasia. If we take the INE population estimated in 2024, 29.8 per 1 million inhabitants of the Balearic Islands have requested euthanasia. Ahead are only Navarra (35.7 per million), Asturias (32.8) and Cantabria (32.3). In absolute terms, the ranking of euthanasia requests by autonomous community is as follows: Catalonia (219), Madrid (89), Canary Islands (62), Basque Country (58), Valencian Community (56), Andalusia (43), Galicia (41), Balearic Islands (37), Asturias (33), Castilla-La Mancha (28), Castilla y León (27), Navarra (24), Aragón (22), Cantabria (19), La Rioja (4) and Murcia and Extremadura (2).
Conclusions of the report
The text published on Thursday by Health points out that “in general, the results obtained and reflected in this report are similar to those collected during the previous year”. For example, the most common profile of the applicants continues to be people between 70 and 79 years of age, mainly with oncological and neurological diseases”. On the other hand, 95% of the applicants maintain their de facto capacity at the beginning of the process. Twenty-five percent of applicants die before their application is resolved. “A large proportion of these deaths occur within the minimum period necessary to process the benefit with guarantees, which may suggest, that people apply for the benefit with very serious illnesses in a very advanced state of illness,” the report notes. “Although significant progress has been made in the implementation of euthanasia in Spain, the process requires improvement, especially in data collection, training of professionals and attention to socioeconomic determinants,” the text concludes.
The process
As explained by the Balearic Government in relation to the law of 2021, euthanasia can be requested by a person suffering from a serious and incurable disease or serious, chronic and disabling suffering in the terms established in the Law, certified by the responsible physician, which cause suffering that the person considers unacceptable and that could not be mitigated by other means. The official website of the Govern explains the procedure: “Once the first request has been made, the responsible physician will verify the requirements and reflect on the pros and cons of the health situation with the person requesting it. Afterwards, the applicant will have to submit a second application and the responsible physician will ask for an assessment from a consultant physician to confirm that the requirements are met. The case will then go to the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission, and if the process is resolved favorably, it can take between 45 and 50 days from the first application to the end of the procedure”.
