NEW DELHI: Colombian counselor, Ana Estrada, who battled an chronic disease that slowly debilitated her muscle and made her sick for years, passed away by death, according to her counsel on Monday. This event marked the first occasion of death in Peru, where such methods are prohibited by law.
Estrada had longer fought through constitutional channels in Peru for the right to choose her own conclusion, gaining interest in the traditional country where both death and assisted suicide be illegal.
In a location selection in 2022, Peru’s Supreme Court made an exception for Estrada, affirming a lower court’s decision that granted her the authority to determine the schedule of her death, with claims that those who assisted her did not encounter legal implications.
Throughout her legal challenge, Estrada’s situation gained widespread attention, shedding light on the debate surrounding the right to kill with dignity. Suffering from polymyositis, an inevitable muscular state that afflicted her since childhood, Estrada eventually lost her ability to move, gradually becoming confined to a chair by her thirties.
Despite her real restrictions, Estrada pursued a profession in philosophy, achieving financial freedom and establishing herself as a doctor. But, as her condition deteriorated more in 2017, she found herself extremely confined to her pillow, grappling with breathing problems and surviving episodes of bronchitis.
Communicating through transcription software due to her inability to type, Estrada maintained a blog titled” Ana for a death with dignity,” documenting her struggles and advocating for euthanasia as a means to end her suffering. She emphasized her desire for autonomy over her own life, expressing the wish to bid farewell to her loved ones peacefully when the time came.
Estrada’s legal victory paved the way for a broader conversation about end-of-life rights in Peru and beyond.
While euthanasia remains illegal in most Latin American countries, Colombia legalized the practice in 2015, and Ecuador decriminalized it in February.
( With agency inputs )
