Some reflections on end-of-life decisions in Chile, regarding the bill on dignified death and palliative care

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the end-of-life decisions scenarios, in view of Chilean legislation and the bill on dignified death. For competent patients, the bill makes progress in recognising autonomy, although adjustments still seem necessary for the bill to have coherence with the rest of end-of-life regulation and to facilitate the expression of values and preferences. As for incompetent patients, the bill does not clarify the necessary criteria for these decisions, so some considerations may be adequate to favour advance directives and the well-being of patients.