On September 9, the future Action Plan for the Prevention of Suicide 2025-2027 of the Ministry of Health was presented at an event that served to commemorate World Suicide Prevention Day, which was celebrated on September 10. The event was attended by Minister Mónica García, the Commissioner for Mental Health, Belén González, and the Secretary of State for Justice, Manuel Olmedo.
At the moment, this draft Action Plan, which according to the ministry will be completed in 2025, is neither drafted nor has any budget assigned to it. It has also been said that the participation of the autonomous communities will be counted on for its preparation, but, for the moment, they neither know the content of the document nor have they collaborated in the preparation of the main lines that are now presented.
The Plan will focus on the social determinants of suicidal behaviour to understand the causes (social, economic, and “gender” factors) and thus be able to design effective measures.
The objective of the action plan is to improve the speed of response to risk situations and the guarantee of care so that anyone who needs help receives appropriate care on time.
According to the suicide data collected by the INE, the total number of suicides in Spain during 2023 was 3,952 people, 2,952 men and 1,000 women. This represents a decrease of 6.5% compared to 2022. This is the first decrease in the number of people who died by suicide in the last 5 years.
Last year, the figure of 700,000 deaths by suicide was reached worldwide.
Bioethical assessment
Bioethical assessmentAccording to the latest data on suicides in Spain for the year 2023, more than 10 people commit suicide every day in our country, more than twice as many men as women.
Although the suicide figures this year have decreased slightly compared to the data from the previous year, the alarming prevalence of suicidal behaviour in developed countries constitutes a very serious public health problem. Statements have been made by the Spanish government on the need to implement actions to prevent and address suicidal behaviour, but the reality is that very little progress is being made in this direction.
It is paradoxically surprising that, along with the concern of developed countries about this problem, there is a growing tolerance towards euthanasia behaviour and assisted suicide.
The care that, as everyone recognizes, should be provided to people with suicidal tendencies, turns into the opposite, that is, it provides all the means for the person with suicidal desire to complete it, in the case of euthanasia or assisted suicide.
In countries where euthanasia has been legalized, suffering from an incurable or limiting illness that causes suffering and that drives the sufferer to ask for help to die, makes it easier for those involved to carry out their suicidal intention through euthanasia or assisted suicide.
The value of the life of someone who has stopped wanting to continue living, because he suffers from an organic illness or a psychological disorder, or a lack of existential meaning, is not diminished by the circumstances, even painful ones, that someone’s life may go through. Situations of suffering, depression, dependency, or incapacity do not reduce the value of the person who suffers from them one iota of the life, which must be protected, accompanied, and welcomed.
The concern that suicidal behaviours raise and that mobilize the population to prevent or reduce them should be the same in the case of those seeking euthanasia, given that, in the case of suicidal behaviours, they also require therapeutic or palliative care to restore their desire to continue living until their natural death.
These are quality, multidisciplinary palliative measures that must be implemented in all cases to effectively prevent people who suffer from ending up wishing for death.
Julio Tudela – Ester Bosch – Bioethics Observatory – Life Sciences Institute – Catholic University of Valencia
