On October 2010 the secretary of health for Mexico City announced that, since the legalization of passive euthanasia, 497 patients have formalized the process, including at least 41 out-of-state residents and 2 citizens of the United States.
22.
In 1975, Rachels wrote " Active and Passive Euthanasia ", which originally appeared in the " New England Journal of Medicine ", and argued that the distinction so important in the law between killing and letting die ( often based on the principle of double effect ) has no rational basis.
23.
He argued that, if we allow passive euthanasia, we should also allow active euthanasia, because it is more humane, and because there is no significant moral difference between killing and allowing to die . " The End of Life " ( 1986 ), a moral treatise on life and death, broadened and deepened these ideas.
24.
Since 7 January 2008 the law allows the terminally ill or closest relatives, if unconscious to refuse medication or further medical treatment that may extend life ( known as passive euthanasia ) in Mexico City, in the state of Aguascalientes ( since 6 April 2009 ) and, since 1 September 2009, in the state of Michoac�n.
25.
The Supreme Court specified two irreversible conditions to permit Passive Euthanasia Law in its 2011 Law : ( I ) The brain-dead for whom the ventilator can be switched off ( II ) Those in a Persistent Vegetative State ( PVS ) for whom the feed can be tapered out and pain-managing palliatives be added, according to laid-down international specifications.
26.
In Mexico, active euthanasia is illegal but since 7 January 2008 the law allows the terminally ill or closest relatives, if unconscious to refuse medication or further medical treatment to extend life ( also known as passive euthanasia ) in Mexico City, in the central state of Aguascalientes ( since 6 April 2009 ) and, since 1 September 2009, in the Western state of Michoac�n.
