Colombian Martha Sepúlveda, 51, the first patient in Colombian history to be allowed to undergo euthanasia without being terminally ill, underwent the procedure on Saturday (8). She had been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for three years and was experiencing severe pain and difficulty walking.
Euthanasia has been legal in Colombia since 1997, but the procedure was regulated in 2015, when hospitals began performing assisted suicide in the country on terminally ill patients.
In July last year, the Constitutional Court of Colombia (equivalent to the Federal Supreme Court) extended the right to patients who suffer from a disease that causes intense suffering from bodily harm or serious incurable illness, and who can offer their free and informed consent. Four days later, Sepúlveda asked for authorization for the procedure, and the request was approved.
She fought a legal battle to be euthanized: she would undergo the procedure in October, but the day before the Instituto Colombiano del Dolor (Incodol), a pain treatment center in Medellín whose team would perform the procedure, announced that it would no longer do so.
At the time, Incodol reported that an interdisciplinary scientific committee of the institute concluded that Sepúlveda’s condition did not meet “the criterion of terminality as had been considered in the first committee”.
DescLAB, a laboratory for economic, social and cultural rights that helped Sepúlveda in her claim, filed a lawsuit for the procedure to be carried out, and the demand was accepted by the Colombian Justice.
The procedure was performed by Incodol. “DescLAB celebrates Martha’s life and her legacy. The struggle to take control of the end of life continues and will not end until we are able to access a medically assisted death in accordance with the patient’s wishes and without barriers,” the laboratory commented in a statement.
Although Sepúlveda was the first non-terminal patient to be allowed to undergo euthanasia in Colombia, she was not the first person in this condition to undergo the procedure in the country.
On Friday night (7), Victor Escobar Prado, 60, was euthanized at a clinic in Cali. He suffered from heart problems, chronic lung disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and paralysis on one side of his body, the aftermath of a car accident and two strokes.
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