His lawyer said on Twitter that the man died in the presence of doctors in the city of Cali. (Representative)
Cali, Colombia:
Victor Escobar chose to die in public and did so, as part of an unprecedented court ruling in Colombia, becoming one of the first Latin Americans to end his life without suffering an incurable disease.
Hours before he died on Friday, 60-year-old Escobar celebrated victory in his two-year battle with a lung disease that left him unable to breathe on his own.
Escobar, a practicing Catholic, said in a video sent to the news: “Slowly, it becomes everyone’s turn. So I don’t say goodbye, but, see you soon. And slowly we are with God.” will end.” Organization.
His lawyer said on Twitter that he died along with doctors in the city of Cali.
In the last footage of him alive, he is seen smiling and surrounded by family. He was sedated and then given a lethal injection.
Colombia penalized assisted death in 1997, and in July 2021 a high court expanded this “right to dignified death” to those not suffering from an incurable disease.
It is the first Latin American country to take this step and one of the few in the world, and did so despite being mostly Roman Catholic. The Church categorically opposes euthanasia and aids in suicide.
“I was already feeling sick. I felt like my lungs didn’t listen to me,” Escobar told AFP in October in the final chapter of his legal battle.
non terminal
Diabetes and cardiac ailment left him on the wheel chair and suffered from convulsions that broke his body.
His family supported the idea of euthanasia.
In Europe only Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Spain have legalized euthanasia.
Colombia may have joined that list but access to the process isn’t always easy.
Patients like Escobar – with chronic diseases and life expectancies of more than six months – could not undergo euthanasia until mid-2021.
“They were being forced to live in abusive conditions against their will,” said Monica Giraldo, of an NGO called the Foundation for the Right to Define Death.
She said that since the court’s decision on euthanasia, three people with non-terminal diseases have used it to end their lives, but Escobar is the first camera to do so so the public can see it.
“I want my story to be known because it creates an open door for patients, like me, to seek comfort for patients with degenerative conditions,” Escobar said.
Escobar has said that he became ill because of years of exposure to asbestos, an insulating material now known to cause cancer.
permission to die
In October last year, a panel at the Imbanaco Clinic rejected Escobar’s request for euthanasia, also rejecting petitions from two years earlier.
The committee argued that Escobar was not a terminal and that there were still ways to try to alleviate his suffering.
A few days ago in another city, Medellin, 51-year-old Martha Sepulveda, who was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also rejected her request to die at the last minute on the grounds that she was not terminal.
Giraldo said hospitals sometimes decline euthanasia requests in “ideological positions” or cancel them at the last minute over legal concerns.
But Escobar appealed in court and won. He decided to die on Friday – January 7 so it would be easier for relatives to attend his funeral over the weekend, his lawyer said.
“I am suffering from my ailments, and see my family suffer because of me,” Escobar said in October, gasping for breath.
The courts also allowed Sepulveda to die. Like Escobar, she too had made her case public.
The government says at least 157 people have chosen euthanasia since the July 2021 legal change.
Giraldo’s foundation is now working with five people who are seeking assisted suicide, two of them with non-terminal conditions.
Shortly before he died, Escobar said that God does not like to see people suffer.
“I don’t think God will punish me for trying to stop suffering,” he said.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
,