A woman with a degenerative disease died on Sunday, April 21, due to euthanasia after a court ruling that exempted from all punishment the doctor who supplied the drug to end the patient's life, who expressed his wish that the action would set a precedent. Euthanasia remains illegal in the country.
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Peru carried out the first euthanasia in its history after a court ruling that exempted the doctor from applying lethal medications to a woman with a degenerative disease.
Ana Estrada, bedridden and requiring an artificial respirator, was 47 years old and had suffered from an illness for three decades. rare incurable disease called polymyositiswhich causes muscle weakness.
His lawyer, Josefina Miró Quesada, confirmed his death in X.
Estrada's battle began in the courts in 2016 to achieve access to euthanasia, illegal in Peru. But attempts to make the jurists in charge of issuing a ruling on the matter understand their situation were in vain. It was in 2019 when he decided to open a website where you could express and cast your last wish.
Two years later, In 2021, the Superior Court of Justice of Lima ordered the Peruvian Ministry of Health to respect Estrada's will. to end his life without applying the Penal Code, to prevent the professionals who intervened in his treatment from being prosecuted.
In 2022, the Supreme Court ratified the case and Ana Estrada, a psychologist by profession and who has become a symbol of euthanasia in Peru, had free rein to decide about her life.
Finally, and with the entire process legalized in its entirety, the statement released by his lawyer details that the medical procedure was carried out “in accordance with the Dignified Death Plan and Protocol”, approved by the state social security EsSalud.
“There will come a time when I will no longer be able to write or express myself,” Estrada said. “My body fails, but my mind and my spirit are happy. I want the last moments of my life to be like this.”
Euthanasia, an illegal practice
In an interview with Reuters after his court victory, Estrada said he hoped his case set a legal precedent for the right to assisted dying. According to Peruvian legislation, assisting the death of a terminally ill person is punishable by prison sentences.
Euthanasia is illegal in most countries, including Peru.
In Colombia, and based on the 1991 Constitution, the Constitutional Court decriminalized euthanasia, something that did not become law until 2015. The conditions to apply it are having a terminal illness, considering that life has ceased to be worthy product of the disease and express consent in a “clear, informed, complete and precise” manner.
In this case, the Supreme Court exempted the doctor who provided the drug to end Estrada's life from all punishment. Even so, assisted dying in Peru remains illegal.
With EFE, Reuters and local media
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