This work focuses on the regulatory treatment of palliative care. Without encroaching on other branches of the legal system, the instruments specific to criminal law are used to that end, thus affecting the pathological situations of the system and, consequently, the more exceptional cases within what constitutes daily medical practice. On the one hand, the patient’s right to reasonable medical treatment against pain is examined. On the other hand, the medical duty to abstain when the patient refuses to comply with the optional requirements. The third objective of the work is the cases in which the patient cannot express his or her will, which means dealing with both cases where there is a prior instruction document and the possibility of consent by representation. Finally, particular consideration is given to cases in which the administration of drugs leads to a shortening of the natural period of life, namely cases of indirect active euthanasia. The latter phenomenon is analysed, reaching the conclusion already reached in other work and in line with the prevailing legal opinion, which is unpunished in Spain.