Colombian Martha Sepúlveda’s euthanasia procedure canceled

The Colombian Pain Institute (Incodol) announced the cancellation after giving way to a review with a scientific committee

“According to a meeting in which Ms. Martha Liria Sepúlveda’s request was sufficiently and broadly examined and re-analyzed, he unanimously concluded to cancel the procedure for dying with dignity by euthanasia, scheduled for 10 October 2021, “the entity said in a press release on Saturday.

The decision was based, they explained, on Article 26 number 26.6 of 2021 Ministry of Health resolution 971, which instructed the Committee to review the application process and the complete euthanasia procedure. , in order to detect any situation affecting intervention assistance.

In this sense, he noticed: “This is why, by having an updated concept of the health and evolution of the patient, it is defined that the termination criterion is not fulfilled, as had been envisaged in the first committee.”

The country decriminalized the practice in 1997, but only enacted it in 2015, amid criticism from various religious movements.

Meanwhile, in July 2020, the country’s Constitutional Court extended the right to a dignified death to those who suffer “from severe physical or mental suffering” due to incurable injury or illness.

The Sepúlveda case has become the center of debate in Colombia as he is the first person to receive an authorization for euthanasia in a patient who does not have a terminal illness.

On several occasions the woman raised the issue when she said, “I am a Catholic person, I consider myself very, very religious. But God does not want to see me suffer ”.

In recent days, Federico, her only son, spoke to the press, who said: “My mother has been calm and happy since they told her that she could die because her life is literally hell. “