After a protracted battle for “death with dignity,” a Peruvian lady ends her life via euthanasia

A Peruvian psychologist, whose uncurable illness left her bedridden for years due to muscular weakness, passed away via euthanasia on Monday, according to her attorney. She was the first person in the nation to be granted the option to end one’s life with medical help.

Ana Estrada rose to fame in the conservative nation of Peru, where assisted suicide and euthanasia are forbidden, after fighting for the right to pass away with dignity for many years in the country’s courts.

The Supreme Court of the country granted Estrada an exception in 2022, upholding a lower court’s decision to provide her with the autonomy to choose when to terminate her life and guaranteeing that anyone who assisted her would face no consequences.

Estrada was the first person in Peru to be granted the right to pass away with medical aid.

Ana’s attorney, Josefina Miro Quesada, released a statement saying, “Ana’s struggle for her right to die with dignity has helped to educate thousands of Peruvians about this right and the importance of defending it.” “Her battle went beyond the boundaries of our country.”

Estrada, 47, was afflicted with polymyositis, an incurable illness that causes muscular atrophy.

When she was twenty years old, she started using a wheelchair since she had lost the strength to walk, having initially shown the signs as a teenager.

Estrada overcame these challenges to get a degree in psychology and work as a therapist. She became independent of her parents after earning enough money to purchase her own place.

But by 2017, Estrada’s health had become worse to the point that she was unable to move from her bed.

She struggled to breathe, yet she managed to overcome pneumonia. Estrada also utilized transcription software to create a blog called “Ana for a Death with Dignity,” where she spoke about her problems and her choice to seek euthanasia, despite the fact that she was unable to write.

“I am no longer free,” she said in a 2018 Associated Press interview. “I have changed from who I was before.”

Estrada successfully defended her right to euthanasia via a lawsuit with the assistance of Peru’s Human Rights Ombudsman. She took part in video conferences from her bed during court hearings.

Estrada said before juries in 2022 that she respected life and wanted the flexibility to choose when to take her own life rather than passing away right away.

She said, “When I can no longer bear suffering in life, I want to consent to euthanasia.” “And when I make the decision to say goodbye to my loved ones in a calm and peaceful manner.”

Only a few nations—Canada, Belgium, and Spain—have made euthanasia lawful.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in several US jurisdictions (Oregon, Maine), when a medical professional gives a terminally sick patient the tools to terminate their life.

With the exception of Ecuador, which decriminalized the practice in February, and Colombia, which legalized it in 2015, euthanasia remains prohibited in the majority of Latin American nations.