Medically assisted dying in Colombia

In Colombia, medically assisted death (euthanasia and assisted suicide) is considered part of the right to die with dignity. The first legal recognition of this was in 1997, when a plaintiff formulated a demand related to an article in the penal code labelled ‘mercy killing’. The Constitutional Court decriminalized this when a physician performs euthanasia upon the informed, voluntary request of an adult and mentally competent person, suffering from a terminal disease, without the prospect of symptom alleviation. In 2014, the Court ordered healthcare institutions to organize Interdisciplinary Committees to oversee dignified deaths through euthanasia and ordered the Ministry of Health to formulate a protocol for euthanasia. In 2018, this right to euthanasia was extended to adolescents and, in exceptional circumstances, children. By 2021, the right to die with dignity was expanded to advanced and incurable bodily injury or illness when suffering is unbearable and the condition affects the concept of human dignity of the patient. In 2022, medically assisted suicide was also decriminalized. Colombia has regulations issued by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection but not formal legislation about the right to die with dignity.