This Wednesday, through a court ruling, in
Ecuador
the possibility of
a terminally ill patient resorting to euthanasia
was authorized for the first time .
In turn, the Ecuadorian Court went further: it granted two months to the Ministry of Health to prepare a
regulation on active euthanasia
and six months to the Ombudsman's Office to
prepare a bill
that regulates it and that Congress must debate. and approve within a
period of one year
.
The decision made by the Constitutional Court of that country comes after a
tough judicial battle
faced by Paola Roldán,
a 43-year-old woman who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS).
Roldán's disease progressively disables his muscles and requires
oxygen assistance and specialized personnel 24 hours a day
.
Additionally, it can only
be fed intravenously
.
In August
2023
, the woman had filed a
lawsuit
requesting the unconstitutionality of article 144 of the Penal Code of Ecuador, which criminalized homicide and established a sentence of 10 to 13 years in prison for anyone who committed it.
Euthanasia, as such, was not included as a cause of non-imputability
or blamelessness in Ecuadorian law.
Paola Roldán suffers from ALS and has become the first case in Ecuador in which euthanasia is approved.
In its ruling, Ecuador's highest court of guarantees declared the
"conditional constitutionality"
for Roldán's assisted death, although it established that
a doctor must carry out the procedure
and that she must express her
unequivocal, free and informed consent
or, in If you cannot report it, you must do so through your representative.
Another of the requirements established by the Court is that the patient
suffers intense suffering
caused by an injury that must necessarily be bodily, serious and irreversible or an illness that is serious and incurable.
Roldán also stated in his lawsuit that a dignified death
is a right of “those who suffer and have suffered serious or incurable illnesses”
and decide “freely and voluntarily to end their life” to stop “suffering or intense physical or emotional pain.” ”.
In a statement she gave in November via the internet, the woman had told the judges: “Week after week I am a conscious witness of
each faculty that I am losing
.”
Until the issuance of this ruling, euthanasia was not legal in Ecuador, although “passive euthanasia” was contemplated, that is, the possibility of
a family member making the decision to disconnect
the equipment that keeps a patient alive.
"Several times I thought that I would not be able to see the fruits of this lawsuit, like someone who plants a tree so that someone else can sit under its shadow," Roldán had written on Friday on his Twitter, while a resolution was still awaited.
Several times I thought that I would not be able to see the fruits of this demand, like someone who plants a tree so that someone else can sit under its shade.
But I have survived and now I want to see if the blood of justice and humanity runs through the veins of this country, or if we continue in the retrograde… https://t.co/jr51X9Gx2T
— Paola Roldan Espinosa (@PaolaRoldanE) February 2, 2024
Now it will be up to the Ministry of Health to develop a
regulation on active euthanasia
, for which the Court granted it
two months
.
The Ombudsman's Office, for its part, will have
six months to prepare a bill
to regulate it.
The Legislative Assembly must debate and
approve
this project
within a period of one year
.
Euthanasia in Argentina
In our country, assisted death
is not allowed
, although
orthothanasia does exist
, which is what is known as passive euthanasia: not subjecting a patient to prolonging their life when this is medically useless.
The law that authorizes this practice in our country is 26,742 and arose in 2012,
from the case of Camila López
who spent more than
two years in the palliative care room
of a hospital, hospitalized in a vegetative state.
According to this law, the same patient, in a state of lucidity but knowing that he or she has a terminal and irreversible illness, can
refuse surgical procedures, artificial resuscitation
or even request
that life support measures be withdrawn
when they are extraordinary or disproportionate to the prospect of improvement or produce disproportionate suffering.
You can also
order the doctor to stop treating you
, and even stop feeding and hydrating you when this only serves to prolong time in an irreversible or incurable terminal state.
In the rest of Latin America,
only Colombia decriminalized euthanasia
in 1997.
Uruguay and Chile are still discussing projects
on the matter, while in
Mexico
there is the so-called
"good death" law
, which authorizes the patient or his family to request that life is not prolonged by artificial means.
With agencies.
D.S.