The movement in Paola Roldán’s house this Monday is unusual. She, in bed with the respirator, unable to move. Nicolás, her husband, takes her hand and they whisper words that only they can hear. The nurse presses her other hand, massaging it to relieve the pain she feels due to the difficulty in blood circulation, like a flame of fire that runs through her hands and feet all the time. Paola is nervous, the day has arrived when the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador who are analyzing her request to legalize euthanasia are going to see and hear her.
The hearing is telematic. Cameras were set up in the living room of Paola’s house so that the nine magistrates could observe the consequences of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, a degenerative disease, for which there is no cure, in the body of the 42-year-old woman from the year 2020, when it was diagnosed. Although she has already tried all kinds of therapies, nothing has improved Paola’s condition, who now only has control of the muscles in her face. She knows that in a matter of time she will lose the ability to communicate and that the disease will eventually cause her death.
The last connection tests are carried out, that the microphone and camera are on, and the hearing begins. The three lawyers representing Paola’s case raised the claim of unconstitutionality of article 144 of the Ecuadorian Comprehensive Penal Code, which stipulates simple homicide with a penalty of up to 13 years in prison. As long as there is no exception in cases of terminal illnesses, this article makes assisted death impossible in Ecuador. “Paola has a 95% disability, she depends on assistance 24 hours a day to carry out the simplest activities in life, she feels pain permanently and thanks to a respirator she maintains her life,” said Farith Simon, a constitutional lawyer.
Paola feeds herself through a catheter. She eats small bites of food to satisfy hunger and for pleasure; However, something as simple as feeding is a risk to her life. Her illness makes it difficult for her to swallow, and two days ago at breakfast she got stuck on a piece of ham. “During the first hour, the nurse used a specialized machine that I have that helps me expectorate and cough, we used it until the power went out…” Paola began her story. “When my husband arrived, he did all kinds of maneuvers so that he could breathe normally again to speak again. There were seven eternal hours, among which he asked me what the farewell to my son would have been like that morning. Would it have been good enough for it to have been a final farewell?
Talking about her son Olíver breaks her, he is a four-year-old whirlwind of golden hair who enters the house shouting that he has arrived and throws himself at his mother and gives her a kiss on the chest. “Due to various circumstances, I can tolerate physical pain, but there is no palliative measure that keeps me lucid and helps me navigate my emotional pain. “The pain of having my son lying next to me crying with fever and him not being able to extend my hand two centimeters to touch his forehead,” he told the judges.
“This is not a fight to die, I know I am doing it. It is a struggle over how to do it,” she stressed. “Should I do it stuck, suffocated, due to an accident, alone, in the arms of a stranger in hiding or can I do it contained, supported, in the arms of my husband, having had an impossible last farewell with my son?”
![Paola Roldán, accompanied by her husband, her lawyer and a nurse, listens to the 'amici curiae'.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/yolMPsVpSDsbnfOBey09s-pJbic=/414x0/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/H34KWFBFIZB53J36UMGJVNARIU.jpg)
16 were heard at the hearing amicus curiae who gave their opinions for and against the request for unconstitutionality that would open the door to euthanasia. Among them Lelissa Calahorrano, whose mother also has ALS. She was diagnosed six years ago. “It is painful to see a mother suffer, to see her suffer, it is very complicated and the State does not provide any guarantee,” said Lelissa, who has suffered the same emergencies as Paola. “A week ago, my mother got stuck with a kiss and almost died of asphyxiation,” says the daughter, who also explained about the impact of the disease on the entire family: “God gives us free will, but man conditions it.” .
The judges will analyze the claim, without a time limit, but the Constitutional Court has treated the case urgently. They could announce their resolution in the coming weeks, whether or not they approve the unconstitutionality of the article, or also if they recognize euthanasia and ask the new Assembly to regulate the terms in which it would be applied, a procedure that would lengthen the process, and an option that Paola will probably never be able to have.
“Today I am here as Paola, but I am hundreds of voices that come out of the silence and show themselves next to me,” he told the judges, whom he asked to leave “in peace and in the dignity” that corresponds to him.
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