Lanzarote leads the Canaries in requests for assisted dying, according to Victoria Castañyera, a registrar of living wills on the island.
Speaking to Lancelot TV, Castañeyra said that 57 requests for assisted dying had been made on the island in the last five years, of which 25 have been carried out. This is more than a quarter of the 97 assisted deaths on the Canaries in the same period.
“The majority of our patients are cancer cases, who usually suffer from advanced cancer”, said Castañeyra, who is a member of the Assisted Death support unit and Ethics Committee at the Dr José Molina Orosa Hospital. “This is followed by those suffering from neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s or Motor Neurone Disease. A very small amount are dementia sufferers who have taken out a living will.”
Castañeyra also revealed that many of the petitioners were foreign residents “Lanzarote has a resident foreign population of British and Germans of an advanced age, who perhaps have a different attitude, and we have received several requests from them.”
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