Paola Roldán, the woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who achieved the legalization of euthanasia in Ecuador this Wednesday, received “moved and relieved” by the ruling of the Constitutional Court that recognizes their right to have a dignified death.
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“I receive this news very moved and with relief. There were days when I thought I would never hear the result of this lawsuit, so today has been a very special moment for me,” Roldán, 42, said in a press conference. years, who was diagnosed with ALS three and a half years ago.
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The woman, who appeared before journalists via voice call, thanked all the people who have supported her until she reached this point, as she commented that it has been “a titanic task that cannot be carried out alone.”.
“I have required many hands to accompany me. I thank those who have supported me and also my detractors. The fight for human rights is not a paved road. Today Ecuador is a country that is a little more welcoming, free and dignified,” he stated. .
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Paola Roldán, the woman with ALS in Ecuador who achieved euthanasia.
There were days when I thought I would never hear the outcome of this lawsuit, so today has been a very special moment for me.
Roldán, who has a 95% disability and remains bedridden at home, commented that After hearing the decision of the Constitutional Court, she received calls from several people who have supported her and who are also in a position to request euthanasia..
The woman indicated that she will spend the next few days with her family and her lawyers to explain everything that the ruling of the constitutional court means, since “receiving the information is different from dreaming about it”.
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For his part, Paola's father, Francisco Roldán, admitted that he received the news with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the satisfaction that his daughter has been able to achieve “a historical event, a legacy for Ecuadorian society”, and on the other hand, seeing the death of her daughter closer. “That is very strong, but there we are, supporting Paola,” he added.
And the lawyers pointed out that The sentence is immediately enforceable if Roldán so wishes.which as of this Wednesday has free rein to receive euthanasia from a doctor, as it meets the conditions and preliminary requirements indicated in the ruling.
Paola Roldán and her family in Ecuador.
The court, with seven votes in favor and one against, exempted from the crime of homicide any doctor who applies euthanasia to a patient who requests it in a free and informed voluntary manner to put an end to great physical suffering resulting from injuries or an irreversible and incurable disease.
Lawyer Ramiro Ávila stated that Roldán has all these requirements, as he has the medical certificates that prove the condition of a serious, irreversible and incurable disease, and an informed consent endorsed by a notary and a psychologist..
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Lawyer Farith Simón pointed out that the ruling is not applicable only to Roldán, since the ruling “has general effects and covers all people who want to benefit from this right in the country.”
The story of Paola Roldán
One day in August 2020, Paola Roldán was doing yoga when one of her arms collapsed and fell to the ground; then she had difficulty managing her hand and taking objects as routine for a mother as her baby's bottle..
Afterwards he walked with difficulty and the doctors in Ecuador talked to him about excessive activity, exercise and stress. In the United States he was diagnosed with ALS.
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Paola “can only move the muscles of her face, her eyes. Her brain works absolutely perfectly, but she has no mobility in any part of her body,” Ramiro Ávila, one of her three lawyers, explained in November.
“I want to rest in peace, calm and peaceful,” the Ecuadorian woman said on Monday. “I know that the only thing I deserve is life and death with dignity,” she added via telematics, bedridden, in a hearing of magistrates of the Constitutional Court, during the beginning of the debate on this issue.
What I experience is painful, lonely and cruel. However, I do not come to expose myself today so that you will pity me.
Last August, Paola filed a complaint with that organization against an article of the Ecuadorian penal code that condemns homicide with prison terms of 10 and 13 years.
Through a team of lawyers, he stated that the “conditional unconstitutionality” of that clause is declared in order to be able to die assisted without doctors being punishedin addition to Parliament drafting a regulation to apply “death with dignity.”
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With a tube that supplies her with oxygen and accompanied by her husband, the woman reported that, due to the disease, for two years she has resorted to “parenteral nutrition”, the administration of nutrients through a catheter directly to the heart. “I have swallowing problems,” she noted. “I've brushed against death so many times.”
Paola has bought 40 gifts to give, year after year, to her son on the following birthdays. and at special moments in your life, like when you get your driver's license, or when you have a spiritual moment.
“What I experience is painful, lonely and cruel. However, I do not come to expose myself today so that they will pity me,” said Roldán, who only has control over the muscles of his face.
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Letting tears flow and asking for water from time to time, He maintained that he represents “hundreds and hundreds of voices that today come out of silence” to demand euthanasia as a “right.”.
This is not the fight to die, I know that I am dying, it is a fight of how to do it (…) in hiding or can I do it held in the arms of my husband.
“This is not the fight to die, I know that I am dying, it is a fight of how to do it (…) in secret or I can do it held in the arms of my husband” with help and legally, she emphasized.
Ramiro Ávila indicated before the magistrates that “Paola opened the doors of her house, her life and her heart to allow us to specify the scope of a necessary right for hundreds of people, who today in Ecuador are suffering serious physical and emotional suffering.” “.
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“He has become the voice of those people who in Ecuador represent the fourth cause of suicide”the lawyer noted, referring to those who suffer from incurable diseases.
The right to die with dignity is not synonymous with euthanasia, but there are several mechanisms.
What's coming now?
So that Paola Roldán can access euthanasia, The Ecuadorian Constitutional Court ordered that a law be prepared to regulate the procedurewhich will be in charge of the Ombudsman's Office and the National Assembly (Parliament), while the Ministry of Public Health will have to develop a regulation.
The Ombudsman's Office will have a maximum of six months to prepare the bill, and the Ministry must make the regulations in a maximum of two months, while the Assembly will have one year from the presentation of the legislative initiative to debate and issue the regulatory body.
(In context: Euthanasia is a right, but it needs rules)
In Latin America, only Colombia decriminalized euthanasia, in 1997. The parliaments of Uruguay and Chile are discussing projects in this regard, while in Mexico there is the so-called “good death” law, which authorizes the patient or her family to request that life not be prolonged by artificial means.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
*With information from EFE and AFP
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