Versailles
Enlightened
- Oct 1, 2020
- 1,652
The Constitutional Court of Colombia issued a judicial decision on Thursday in which it expands the cases in which euthanasia or assisted death can be requested - legal in the country since 1997 - for non-terminal illnesses.
The full chamber of the Court decided, with six favorable votes, to allow the fundamental right to die with dignity medically assisted non-terminally ill patients "provided that the patient suffers intense physical or mental suffering, stemming from bodily injury or serious and incurable disease. ".
Colombia was the first country in Latin America to decriminalize euthanasia, and one of the few in the world where it is legal, after the Constitutional Court in 1997 consecrated dignified death as a fundamental right in the event of a terminal illness, when the patient suffered greatly pain, requested voluntarily and performed by a doctor.
This new ruling of the Court, which modifies the "mercy killing" of the Penal Code and which previously incurred 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 fundamental right.
In this way, he urges Congress to legislate "progress in the protection of the fundamental right to die with dignity, with a view to eliminating the still existing barriers to effective access to said right."
Although 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 addition, the Parliament has blocked for years the bills that seek to regulate the dignified death.
LESS THAN 100 PROCEDURES
Last month, the euthanasia debate made headlines again in the country, after the case of Yolanda Caparro, a 71-year-old educator and activist with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, who fought for more than a year to be given the right to die with dignity, after judges and doctors denied it despite the pain he suffered because they considered that he was not on the verge of death.
In the country, only 94 euthanasia procedures have been carried out from April 2015 to May 8, 2020, according to the Ministry of Health, which counts the cases since the procedure was allowed, 18 years after the Court in 1997 Constitutional law will establish a dignified death as a fundamental right.
Most of these procedures were performed in Bogotá or in the department of Antioquia, and almost nine out of ten were for people with a cancer-related diagnosis.
In addition, for every five requests that are made in the country, only two end up being made, according to official data.
The full chamber of the Court decided, with six favorable votes, to allow the fundamental right to die with dignity medically assisted non-terminally ill patients "provided that the patient suffers intense physical or mental suffering, stemming from bodily injury or serious and incurable disease. ".
Colombia was the first country in Latin America to decriminalize euthanasia, and one of the few in the world where it is legal, after the Constitutional Court in 1997 consecrated dignified death as a fundamental right in the event of a terminal illness, when the patient suffered greatly pain, requested voluntarily and performed by a doctor.
This new ruling of the Court, which modifies the "mercy killing" of the Penal Code and which previously incurred 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 fundamental right.
In this way, he urges Congress to legislate "progress in the protection of the fundamental right to die with dignity, with a view to eliminating the still existing barriers to effective access to said right."
Although 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 addition, the Parliament has blocked for years the bills that seek to regulate the dignified death.
LESS THAN 100 PROCEDURES
Last month, the euthanasia debate made headlines again in the country, after the case of Yolanda Caparro, a 71-year-old educator and activist with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, who fought for more than a year to be given the right to die with dignity, after judges and doctors denied it despite the pain he suffered because they considered that he was not on the verge of death.
In the country, only 94 euthanasia procedures have been carried out from April 2015 to May 8, 2020, according to the Ministry of Health, which counts the cases since the procedure was allowed, 18 years after the Court in 1997 Constitutional law will establish a dignified death as a fundamental right.
Most of these procedures were performed in Bogotá or in the department of Antioquia, and almost nine out of ten were for people with a cancer-related diagnosis.
In addition, for every five requests that are made in the country, only two end up being made, according to official data.
