Colombian Victor Escobar become the primary particular person within the Andean nation with a non-terminal sickness to die via legally regulated euthanasia overdue on Friday, his legal professional Luis Giraldo showed.
“We reached the function for sufferers like me, who are not terminal however degenerative, to win this struggle, a struggle that opens the doorways for the opposite sufferers who come after me and who at this time desire a dignified dying,” Escobar, 60 mentioned in a video message despatched to media via Giraldo.
On Saturday, a 2nd Colombian, a girl with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALA), sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s Illness, was once euthanized.
Victor Escobar leans at the shoulder of his spouse Diana Nieto at their house in Cali, Colombia October 19, 2021. (Picture: Reuters)
Escobar suffered from end-stage continual obstructive pulmonary illness, which a great deal diminishes high quality of lifestyles, in addition to quite a few different stipulations, Giraldo advised Reuters.
The process happened in a health center in Cali, the capital town of Colombia’s Valle del Cauca province.
“I am not pronouncing good-bye, simply ‘so long,'” Escobar mentioned.
Escobar had fought two-years for his proper to euthanasia within the face of opposition from medical doctors, clinics and courts, despite the fact that the Constitutional Court docket closing 12 months known the process must no longer be to be had only for the terminally sick.
On Saturday, Martha Sepulveda underwent the process within the town of Medellin at noon, DescLAB – who supported her case – mentioned in a remark.
Victor Escobar speaks together with his spouse Diana Nieto at their house in Cali, Colombia October 19, 2021. (Picture: Reuters)
Sepulveda, who have been recognized with Lou Gehrig’s illness in 2018, was once because of be euthanized on Oct. 10 closing 12 months, however the process was once halted on the 11th hour.
Colombia’s Constitutional Court docket got rid of consequences for euthanasia underneath positive instances in 1997 and ordered the process to be regulated in 2014. The primary particular person in Colombia with a terminal sickness to die underneath the ones regulations was once in 2015.
As of Oct. 15 closing 12 months, 178 other people with terminal diseases have been legally euthanized in Colombia since 2015, in keeping with Colombian prison rights advocacy staff DescLAB.
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