They cancel women euthanasia in Colombia hours before they were practiced

Bogotá.- A Medellin Medical Center decided this Saturday to cancel Martha Sepúlveda, a woman with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ELA) and was going to practice this Sunday.This is the first Colombian to receive the procedure since the Constitutional Court was authorized in July for patients with non -terminal diseases.

The Colombian Pain Institute (INCODOL), in charge of the procedure, said in a statement that he decidedthe terminality criteria as it had been considered ".

Colombia was the first Latin American country to decriminalize euthanasia, and one of the few in the world where it is legal, after the Constitutional consecrated in 1997 the dignified death as a fundamental right in case of terminal disease, when the patient suffered a lotpain, you will request it voluntarily and make a doctor.

The ruling of July of the Court, which modifies the “homicide for mercy” of the Criminal Code and that previously contemplated sentences of up to 54 months in prison, annuls that first requirement that the person who requests it suffers a terminal disease, and does somotivated by the barriers that still persist in the country to exercise this right.

Although it is legal since 1997, this right was not exercised until 2015 and the procedures still face barriers, such as that it is only carried out in certain cities and many medical centers do not know how to act.

In addition, Parliament has maintained for years the bills that seek to regulate decent death.

The case of Martha Sepúlveda

The case of Sepúlveda was known last month when, in a news report Caracol, he said he was going to die at 51 years of age.

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“If it is from the spiritual plane, I am totally calm (...) coward I will be but I do not want to suffer anymore, I am tired.I fight to rest, ”said the woman, who added that the certainty of dying gave him" tranquility ".

Since she was diagnosed, the woman began to lose strength on her legs and made it more difficult to walk long distances, which worsened her quality of life.

Controversy for the case

After the publication of the Report, the Episcopal Conference of Colombia invited Sepúlveda to "to reflect serenely on its decision".

"Hopefully (the reflection occurs), if the circumstances allow it, far from the harassment of the media that have not hesitated to take their pain and that of their family, to make a kind of propaganda of euthanasia," he saidMonsignor Francisco Antonio Ceballos Escobar, president of the Episcopal Commission for the Promotion and Defense of Life.

For his part, the representative to the chamber Juan Fernando Reyes regretted “that they have denied Euthanasia to Martha Sepúlveda”.

“The right to die dignity is a right of each person, the State does not have to get into that decision or anyone.If we want our intimate beliefs and decisions to be respected, let's begin by respecting those of others, ”said the liberal congressman.

Euthanasia in Colombia

In the country only 94 Euthanasia procedures have been carried out from April 2015 until May 8, 2020, according to the Ministry of Health, which has the cases since the procedure was allowed, 18 years after in 1997 the CourtConstitutional will enshrine decent death as a fundamental right.

Most of these procedures were carried out in Bogotá or in the department of Antioquia, and almost nine out of ten were to people with diagnosis related to cancer.

In addition, for every five requests made in the country, only two end up practiced, according to official data.