The Cuban Government published this Friday in the Official Gazette the new Public Health law, which recognizes the right to a dignified death and defines the assumptions for applying euthanasia, although its application was postponed until a specific norm is approved to regulate it.
The norm places the island on the path to being the second country in Latin America to allow assisted death, which in the case of the text would be recognized as “valid procedures that end life.” Although there are still legal steps to take.
The national director of Teaching Fidela Reyes Obediente said that the regulations guarantee the future of medical training. “We legally support the preparation of doctors, technicians and qualified workers to better serve our people.”#CubaForLife pic.twitter.com/HlncMvMWrM
— Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (@MINSAPCuba) January 23, 2026
The text, which was approved by Parliament at the end of 2023, does not define deadlines for issuing the complementary law that will allow its application in practice, but is only limited to ensuring this, which will be applied “when the conditions are created in the country.”
The document establishes that the right to a dignified death can be exercised for those who suffer from chronic degenerative or irreversible diseases; They suffer from “intractable” suffering or have a “health condition in an agonizing phase” or terminal.
Likewise, the patient can “express to health personnel his/her refusal to receive medical procedures, even when they could mean improvement.”
For the applicant’s opinion to be valid – as long as it meets the scenarios considered by law – doctors must consider that he or she is of full mental capacity.
Another valid option, according to the document, is the advance directive: a legal document where a person previously expresses what medical treatments they accept or reject if they lose the ability to decide.
The text also states that the cases must be analyzed by an ethics committee, without going into further details.
