The judges called on Congress to pass euthanasia laws „to remove remaining barriers.” Colombians still have fresh memories of what happened to Sepúlveda, 51, who had prepared everything to be the first person to obtain this right in ± country without being an incurable patient, but the clinic cancelled the procedure two nights earlier. This happened in October 2021 and caused such a stir that it distanced the woman from the press: before her planned euthanasia was cancelled, a TV report had aired in which she talked about her decision to die and the interview was reportedly used to deny her the procedure. Here, according to the doctor, palliative care could play an important role. „When there are good palliative care services, requests for euthanasia decrease. But that doesn`t mean that because there is, the right to die in a certain way is denied,” he said. According to the Laboratory of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (DescLAB), citing data from the Colombian Ministry of Health, 123 euthanasia procedures were performed across Colombia between 2015 – the year death was resolved with dignity – and March 15, 2021. „For the same reason, there are many gaps, as in the case of Martha Sepúlveda. Is it possible that such a procedure can only be completed a day before? It is not regulated, for example. And it needs to be discussed,” he says. In July 2021, the Constitutional Court extended the right to euthanasia to patients who do not have an incurable illness but who are victims of „intense physical or mental suffering as a result of a bodily injury or a serious and incurable illness”. Persons requesting euthanasia must be diagnosed with a bodily injury or a serious and incurable illness.
The Constitutional Court, by its judgment C-233 of 2021, removed the barrier of incurable diseases, that is, diseases with a fatal prognosis, which is usually almost six months. No one ever denounced Quintana because there is no way to prove that what he was doing was a crime. In addition, in order to protect himself legally, Quintana always asked for a will in which the patient wrote down why he wanted to die and in which he clearly indicated that he was doing so of his own free will. But it was never necessary to show this will. In addition, Quintana El Espectador said that he sometimes wants someone to pursue him to see how far the complaint goes, because in his opinion, he is an „honest man” and what he does, he does with a clear conscience. In 2015, Ovidio González became the first person to die with dignity and legally in Colombia. González was a 79-year-old man whose facial cancer had stolen half his weight, disfigured his face and caused complications when eating and talking, and who had requested euthanasia two years earlier because, as he said, „I know where I`m going and I don`t want to be a wink in bed.” FALSE. In Colombia, there is a figure called conscientious objection that allows medical professionals not to perform euthanasia if it goes against their personal beliefs. On 22 July, the Colombian Constitutional Court broadened the conditions for access to and exercise of euthanasia.
The Court has defined the requirements that medical committees review. They don`t make the decision, they just check. The regulation of euthanasia is an advantage because it brings them out of obscurity, from clandestinity and avoids excesses and abuses. Now, the Department of Health needs to receive reports on how this was done, how the process went, so it is regulated and monitored. In Colombia, the Quote Saavedra law has been in force since 2014, which establishes the right to this type of care, „but to access the service, things continue to happen as if a 70-year-old woman had to queue at dawn to get a Dolex. We have a kind of structural violence. Anyone who has become ill knows what it means to get into the health care system. It would be ironic if we had an excellent euthanasia service in Colombia and continued with a terrible health service that does not provide patients with incurable or incurable diseases with the service they need,” says Díaz Amado. Elsewhere in Latin America, there are laws in Mexico that allow patients or their relatives to request that life not be prolonged by artificial means, while the Uruguayan parliament is debating a bill on euthanasia.
Lawyer Luis Giraldo fights every day in cases of clients who often die before their health system allows them to die with dignity. Right now, Ãscar, 30, is waiting in Cali for the euthanasia he requested ± weeks ago. You have a tumor in your brain stem that causes pain throughout your body. Giraldo hopes that the court`s decision will have real results in the lives of people who want to die with dignity. „Euthanasia then remained in a gray area: decriminalized by the court, but without an adequate legal framework to regulate it,” Eduardo Díaz-Amado, associate professor at the Institute of Bioethics at the Javeriana University in Colombia, said in an academic paper. The Constitutional Court has once again marked historic progress in Colombia with the legalization of physician-assisted© suicide. A court ruling equates the practice with euthanasia and decriminalizes it, opening the door to a new mechanism for Colombians to exercise their right to a dignified death. The main difference between assisted suicide and euthanasia is that in the former case, the patient performs the act of ending his or her life. For Díaz Amado, this goes beyond legal agreements to create a culture of respect for the decision to die. „We need more sensitive and cautious institutions, doctors and administrative staff when they decide to respond to the situation of a desperate patient who suddenly needs support and accompaniment instead of euthanasia.” Since then, euthanasia has been legal in Colombia and anyone who meets the following conditions can access it: Díaz Amado refers to the court`s verdict on July 22, in which he extended the right to request euthanasia.