85-year-old Riga woman calls for debate on legalising euthanasia in Latvia
An 85-year-old retiree from Riga wrote to Delfi asking for renewed discussion on legalising euthanasia in Latvia. The Ministries of Health and Welfare did not mention any specific plans on the issue.
Svetlana, an 85-year-old retired engineer living in Riga, has written to the news outlet Delfi, urging it to address the question of legalising euthanasia in Latvia. Euthanasia is medically assisted voluntary ending of life in cases of serious illness. Latvian law currently provides no such option, and the ministries have not announced new initiatives in this direction.
The woman's experience
Svetlana writes that the issue matters to many lonely, ill older people who can no longer care for themselves and for whom treatment brings no improvement. In her view, voluntary euthanasia would allow such people to die with dignity.
She first thought seriously about this option when falls left her unable to leave her home. Her health has kept deteriorating since then. She says she loses another ability every day.
Svetlana believes medicine makes sense when a young person falls ill and can recover, but in old age it often only prolongs life when a return to former life is no longer possible.
Dependence on others is also hard for her. A young relative brings her two heavy bags of groceries about once every two weeks, and Svetlana worries that this burdens the relative and harms her health.
Earlier debate
Euthanasia has been discussed in Latvia before. In 2021, a petition on the public initiative platform ManaBalss.lv gathered more than 10,000 signatures in favour of legalisation, but the Saeima, Latvia's parliament, rejected the initiative after emotional debate.
Delfi approached the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Welfare and the association Hospiss LV with questions. The ministries did not report any specific plans to take up the legalisation of euthanasia again.
