In Colombia, euthanasia was applied for the first time to a patient without terminal illness

Víctor Escobar, 60 years old and who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and hypertension, among other problems, this Friday became the first Colombian to receive euthanasia without being a terminal patient and after having made the decision to have “a dignified death.”

“It was possible to reach the objective that patients like me (…) would win this battle, which opens the doors for the other patients who come after me and who, at this moment, want a dignified death,” said Víctor in his farewell message before being admitted for the procedure at a clinic in Cali (southwest).

This man, who in the multiple interviews he was conducted in recent weeks showed difficulties in speaking and moving, is the first Colombian to receive the procedure since the Constitutional Court authorized it in July for patients with non-terminal illnesses.

The Court’s ruling, which modifies the “mercy killing” of the Penal Code and which previously contemplated penalties of up to 54 months in prison, annuls that first requirement that the person who requests it suffers from a terminal illness, and does so motivated by the barriers that still persist in the country to exercise this right.

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“This is a very important moment for Colombia, it is the first patient in Latin America to receive euthanasia without being a terminal patient,” said Escobar’s lawyer, Luis Giraldo, in a video posted on his social networks.

Deterioration of living condition

For several years Escobar, who was a truck driver, suffered from COPD and other diseases such as the aftermath of a cardiovascular accident, depression or severe osteoarthritis, diseases that were deteriorating his life condition and led him to depend even on someone else because he could not use itself.

The man began two years ago to look for a way to be euthanized but encountered barriers such as medical centers denying the procedure because he was not a terminal patient.

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However, the panorama changed with the Court’s ruling and, after an arduous legal fight in which he was even denied euthanasia again, a Cali court ordered the health provider company (EPS) Coomeva to carry out the procedure, as it happened today in a clinic whose name was not revealed.

In the last days of his life, Escobar enjoyed the league title of his soul team, Deportivo Cali, which even invited him to meet the players in October last year.

The idea is that his organs are donated to patients who need them, he said before he died.

Failed procedure

Escobar and his family’s fears that the procedure would not be carried out came from the media case of Martha Sepúlveda, a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) whose euthanasia was canceled hours before it was performed in October.

Sepúlveda’s case became known in September when, in a News Caracol report, he told of his wish to die at the age of 51.

However, hours before the process was performed, the Colombian Pain Institute (Incodol) decided to cancel the procedure by “having an updated concept of the patient’s health and evolution” with which “it is defined that there is no it meets the termination criterion as had been considered, ”according to a statement.

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At the end of October, a judge ordered that medical center to reschedule the procedure, which has not yet been performed.

Colombia was the first country in Latin America to decriminalize euthanasia and it is one of the few in the world where it is legal after the Constitutional Constitution consecrated in 1997 dignified death as a fundamental right in case of terminal illness when the patient suffered from a lot of pain. It will be requested voluntarily and performed by a doctor.

Despite the fact that it has been legal since 1997, this right did not begin to be exercised until 2015 and the procedures still face barriers, such as that it is only performed in certain cities and many medical centers do not know how to act.

In the country, only 178 euthanasia procedures have been carried out from April 2015 to October 15, 2021, according to the Ministry of Health.

According to the Laboratory for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (DescLab), 2021 was the year with the most euthanasias performed, with 47 procedures in total. (I)