LIMA – Peru’s Supreme Court yesterday confirmed a ruling by a judge in Lima recognising the right to euthanasia in the case of a woman suffering from an incurable and degenerative disease.
“With four votes, the sentence in question is partially approved,” the ruling said, with two judges dissenting. The exact euthanasia procedure is yet to be decided.
The court’s decision upheld a February 2021 ruling by a Lima Court of Appeal saying that the Health Ministry and the country’s national health insurance agency must “respect the decision” of 45-year-old Ana Estrada “to put an end to her life through the technical procedure of euthanasia”.
The ruling says the term “euthanasia” should be understood as “the action by a doctor to orally or intravenously directly administer a pharmacologic intended to put an end to her life”.
The judgement says Article 112 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits assisted suicide, is in this case “inapplicable”.
Estrada has suffered from an incurable inflammatory autoimmune disease called polymyositis, which causes progressive muscle weakness since she was 12 years old. She has used a wheelchair since she was 20, according to Peruvian media. – AFP, July 15, 2022
