Resolución 813 de 2026: the euthanasia procedure and adjusting therapeutic effort

What it is

Ministry of Health Resolution 813 of 2026 complies with the Constitutional Court's orders on the right to die with dignity in two dimensions: euthanasia and adjusting therapeutic effort (AET). It replaced Resolutions 971 of 2021 (adults) and 825 of 2018 (children and adolescents). It no longer requires a terminal illness: an extreme health condition with intense, unbearable suffering is enough. It sets who receives the request, the deadlines, the committees' make-up, the rules for minors and conscientious objection.

Key articles

• Art. 2: applies to health workers, providers (IPS), insurers (EPS) and Colombian patients and foreigners domiciled in Colombia (with at least one year of uninterrupted domicile).
• Art. 5.2: extreme health condition: a confirmed diagnosis with a serious disturbance that compromises life, prognosis, response to treatment and function; it includes incurable conditions and treatable ones with no definitive functional recovery.
• Art. 8: categories: 8.1 end-of-life conditions (advanced incurable disease, terminal disease with a prognosis under six months, the dying phase); 8.2 serious and incurable disease; 8.3 irreversible bodily injury.
• Art. 8, paragraph 2: a mental illness or disorder can be a serious and incurable disease if it meets item 8.2 and the requirements of art. 22.
• Art. 9: the request is spoken or written, personal, unequivocal and voluntary, and can be made through a DVA; the confirmation is recorded in the committee's minutes.
• Arts. 14 to 20: AET aims to avoid therapeutic obstinacy; the hospital ethics committee, if consulted, gives an advisory opinion within at most 15 calendar days.
• Arts. 21 to 23: any doctor may receive the request; if it reaches a provider or insurer, a doctor is assigned by the next working day; it is recorded at once, reported within 24 hours and the committee is activated.
• Art. 27: the patient may withdraw at any time and move to palliative care or AET.
• Art. 28: the assessments (mental capacity, extreme health condition, the patient's perspective and others) are done within 10 calendar days of the request.
• Art. 30: the committee checks the extreme health condition, intractable suffering, mental capacity, lack of reasonable alternatives and the offer of palliative care and AET; in mental illness it requires documented refractoriness and that it is not an acute phase.
• Art. 32: after confirmation, the patient sets the date; with substituted consent, scheduling takes no more than 30 calendar days.
• Art. 35: if the doctor does not activate the committee, the insurer assigns another doctor; if the committee refuses, the patient may ask for a committee with different members.
• Arts. 58 to 61: a committee in medium- or high-complexity providers, with three members: for adults, a specialist in the main diagnosis, a lawyer and a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist; for adolescents, a paediatrician, a psychiatrist and a lawyer; none an objector or treating doctor.
• Art. 73: the procedure is free, with no co-payments or user fees.

Step by step

1. The patient asks any doctor, spoken or in writing, or uses a DVA; if the request reaches a provider or insurer, it assigns a doctor by the next working day.
2. The doctor checks the minimum requirements: an extreme health condition and intense, unbearable suffering.
3. They explain AET, palliative care, the right to withdraw and the committee's role.
4. They record the request in the medical record, report it within 24 hours and activate the Interdisciplinary Euthanasia Committee.
5. The assessments are done within at most 10 calendar days (15 for adolescents).
6. The committee checks the eligibility conditions; if they are met, the patient confirms the request.
7. The patient sets the date and gives informed consent; the procedure is free.
8. If the request is refused, the patient may ask for review by a committee with different members.

In clinical practice

• A euthanasia request is not ignored or deflected: it is recorded and, if the requirements are in doubt, the committee is still activated (art. 35.1).
• Terminal illness is no longer required; in mental illness the committee requires documented refractoriness and that it is not an acute phase (art. 30).
• An objecting doctor tells the committee in writing and must still give complete, clear information about the right to die with dignity (art. 71).

Status and official text

• Official text checked on 2026-11-05 in the Ministry of Health's Boletín Jurídico No. 04 of 2026 (section 2.2.6, p. 113), on minsalud.gov.co; technical annexes on www2.minsalud.gov.co. Issued in April 2026; in force from issue (art. 75).
• It repealed Resolution 971 of 2021 (which had replaced 1216 of 2015) and Resolution 825 of 2018 (children and adolescents), and amended arts. 2 and 3 of Resolution 13437 of 1991.
• It complies with Rulings T-970 of 2014, T-423, T-544 and T-721 of 2017, T-060 of 2020, C-233 of 2021, T-445 of 2024, and T-057 and T-438 of 2025.
• It regulates euthanasia and AET; it does not develop medically assisted suicide (Ruling C-164 of 2022).

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Educational content on ethics and health law; not legal advice. Laws and case law change: each page links the official text and says when it was last checked. For a real case, read the text in force and ask a lawyer or the medical ethics tribunal.

Sources: Boletín Jurídico No. 04 de 2026, section 2.2.6: Resolución 813 de 2026 (Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, 2026); Resolución 813 de 2026: technical annexes (Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, 2026); Sentencia T-970 de 2014 (Corte Constitucional de Colombia, 2014).

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