Her comments come on the eve of a debate in parliament on a petition calling for the decriminalis-ation of assisted dying.
At present, helping a patient to die is considered homicide and can carry a penalty of up to three years in prison.
“This is a matter that merits a debate in Portuguese society, but I would not rule out that possibility,” said Cristas of a popular vote, in comments to journalists after a visit to the International University of the Third Age in Lisbon.
The PP leader stressed that much remains to be debated on the subject, not least in parliament.
“Certainly we should ... seek to find the most human solutions that we can in the 21st century - those that accompany a person giving them all the comfort possible, taking away their pain and looking at the person as a whole, and not only as someone who is in a difficult and very often terminal moment in their life,” she said.
The Left Bloc has promised to table legislation with a view to decriminalising assisted dying following Wednesday’s debate.
Public discussion of the subject was sparked last year when the head of Portugal’s national nurses’ association claimed that some doctors in the national health service had connived in assisted suicides for terminally ill patients at public hospitals, despite the fact that euthanasia is not legal in the country. The Health Ministry has ordered an urgent inquiry into the allegations.