Víctor Escobar, 60, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes and hypertension, among other problems, became the first Colombian to receive euthanasia without being a terminal patient and after having made the decision to have “a dignified death.”
Colombia applied last Friday for first time in its history to a non-terminal patient, setting a precedent at the Latin American level.
“It was possible to reach the goal that patients like me (…) would win this battle, that open the doors for the other patients who come after me and that, at this time, they want a dignified death, “Escobar said in his farewell message before being admitted for the procedure at a clinic in Cali (southwest).
This man, who in multiple recent interviews showed difficulty 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 last hours of Víctor Escobar
He lives connected to oxygen and hopes that this Friday they will carry out the procedure authorized by a judge.
He is the first Colombian to have the #euthanasia without being a terminal patient. /and pic.twitter.com/g7ILJLBy7y
— DW Español (@dw_espanol) January 7, 2022
The Court’s ruling, which modifies the “Mercy killing” of the Penal Code and that 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.
“This is a very important moment for Colombia, he is the first patient in Latin America to receive euthanasia without being a terminal patient “Escobar’s lawyer, Luis Giraldo, said in a video posted on his social networks.
The fight of Víctor Escobar
For several years Escobar suffered from COPD and other diseases such as aftermath of a cardiovascular accident, depression or severe osteoarthritis, which were deteriorating his living condition and lead him to depend even on someone else because he could not fend for himself.
Man started two years ago to manage euthanasia, but he encountered barriers such as medical centers denying him the procedure because he was not a terminal patient.
#NewsW Víctor Escobar became the first non-terminal patient to receive euthanasia in Colombia. The procedure was carried out this Friday at a clinic in Cali.
Luis Carlos Giraldo, the patient’s lawyer, spoke about the case. pic.twitter.com/y3LTu5Y9cT
— W Radio Colombia (@WRadioColombia) January 8, 2022
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 (EPS) Coomeva to perform the procedure. , as 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.
Escobar and his family’s fears that the procedure would not be performed came from the media case of Martha Sepulveda, a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) whose euthanasia was canceled last October, hours before it was performed.
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