MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian woman finally granted euthanasia procedure

Sepúlveda was first scheduled to be euthanized Oct. 10

Just one day after Víctor Escobar became the first non-terminal patient to die through euthanasia in Colombia following a long legal battle, the 51-year-old Martha Sepúlveda followed suit. She suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Sepúlveda's procedure was carried out Jan. 8 at the Colombian Institute of Pain, in Medellín. “She agreed to euthanasia and died in accordance with her idea of autonomy and dignity,” according to a statement.

Sepúlveda was scheduled to be euthanized Oct. 10, but it was suspended at the last minute when the Interdisciplinary Scientific Committee for the Right to Die with Dignity determined that “the termination criterion as had been considered in the first committee was not met.” If the delay had not occurred, Sepúlveda would have become the first patient to have been euthanized without her being terminally ill in Colombia.

The magistrate who ruled on Sepúlveda's case found that the IPS Incodol had “violated the fundamental rights to die with dignity, to a dignified life, to the free development of the personality and human dignity of Martha Sepúlveda.”

The woman had repeatedly expressed, even to the media, her desire to die to stop suffering as her health deteriorated and her quality of life worsened.

A day before, Víctor Escobar, a 60-year-old man suffering from various degenerative conditions had become the first patient in the country to die under medical assistance following a two-year legal battle. Escobar suffered from obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, had suffered several cerebrovascular episodes, had mobility problems, needed oxygen to breathe and had undergone spinal surgery three times after suffering a car accident.

Euthanasia has been legal in Colombia since 1997. However, it was not practiced until 2015, when the Constitutional Court expanded the list of cases in which euthanasia can be requested to those with non-terminal illnesses, as long as they suffer “intense physical or mental suffering from bodily injury or serious and incurable disease,” which was the case of Sepúlveda.

Colombia is one of the seven countries in the world where euthanasia is legal, along with Belgium, Canada, Spain, Luxembourg, New Zealand and the Netherlands, while other countries, such as Chile and Peru, are taking steps towards its approval.

Four other countries in the region have legislation on dignified death, which differs from euthanasia in that the patient does not die, but rather has the right to refuse treatments or therapies to prolong his life: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and some states from Mexico.

Read also: No euthanasia for Colombian woman suffering from ALS