Suren Krmoyan: Armenia, as any other civilized state, bans euthanasia

YEREVAN, JULY 30, ARMENPRESS: “Armenpress” news agency spoke with legal consultant to the RA Healthcare minister Suren Krmoyan about euthanasia in Armenia and practice of providing drugs to grave ill people.

- Mr. Krmoyan, what is the attitude of Armenia toward euthanasia taking into consideration the circumstance that today many countries are discussing the issue on allowing it?

- Today Armenia, like any other civilized state, bans euthanasia – speeding up the death with the request of patient through any activity or means. There are certain points in the Law on “Medical Assistance and Service”. The people who are consciously making people apply euthanasia or are doing it themselves are punished in accordance with the Armenia’s legislation. Each person according to the Constitution has right to live, it supposes that even with the wish of a person one cannot deprive him/her of life. It is one of the rules of medical ethics and is worked out by the International Medical Association. As to Armenia, during our history, such precedents are not known.

- For instance when people with cancer are being given drugs, does not it have any relation to euthanasia in respect that the patient is in unconscious state?

- As to giving drugs to grave ill people, I would say that we have practice of treatment or smoothing the pains and till the end we are fighting for prolonging the life of the patient and the healthcare bodies are just for doing it. The state not only excludes permitting euthanasia but undertakes steps to prolong the life of the patient as much as possible as well as tries to improve the quality of life. The sense of the whole medicine and medical sciences is in it.

- What mechanisms are being applied in Armenia to control the circulation of drugs provided to grave ill patients?

- The mechanism is the following – the drugs are being provided with the prescription of a doctor and only after getting the signature of chief doctor of the certain medical establishment. If the patient is not in the territory of the medical establishment, the boxes of the used drugs are being returned. Besides, the officials of the medical establishment which provides drugs are frequently and periodically visiting the patient to learn how he/she feels and control the usage of the provided drugs.