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Psychologist Becomes First Person in Peru To Die By Euthanasia

Psychologist in Peru die by euthanasia, and becomes the first person in Peru to die that way.

A Peruvian psychologist who had an incurable disease that weakened her muscles and kept her confined to her bed for years died by euthanasia, her lawyer said Monday, making her the first person in the country to obtain the right to die with medical assistance.

Ana Estrada spent years fighting in Peruvian courts for the right to die with dignity, becoming a celebrity in a conservative country where euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal.

The nation’s Supreme Court granted Estrada an exception in 2022, upholding a lower court ruling that gave Estrada the right to choose when to end her life and stated that those who assisted her would not face punishment. Estrada was the first person in Peru to be granted the right to die with medical assistance.

“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 lawyer, Josefina Miró Quesada, stated. “Her struggle transcended our nation’s borders.”

Estrada, 47, had polymyositis, a muscle-wasting disease with no cure.

She began to exhibit the first symptoms as a teenager and began using a wheelchair at the age of 20 because she had lost the ability to walk.

Despite these obstacles, Estrada earned a psychology degree and became a therapist. She earned enough money to buy her own apartment and gain independence from her parents.

Estrada’s condition worsened by 2017, and she was unable to get out of bed.

She had trouble breathing but survived pneumonia. Despite her inability to type, Estrada used transcription software to create a blog called “Ana for a Death with Dignity,” where she discussed her struggles and decision to seek euthanasia.

“I am no longer free,” she stated in an interview with the Associated Press in 2018. “I am not the same person I was before.”

Estrada won a lawsuit with the help of Peru’s Human Rights Ombudsman, granting her the right to die via euthanasia. She participated in court sessions via videoconference from her bed.

Estrada told judges in 2022 that she valued life and did not want to die immediately, but rather wanted the freedom to choose when to end her life.

“I want to accede to euthanasia when I can no longer sustain suffering in life,” she went on to say. “And when I decide to bid farewell to my loved ones in peace and with tranquillity.”

Only a few countries have legalized euthanasia, including Canada, Belgium, and Spain. Some states in the United States, including Maine and Oregon, allow physician-assisted suicide, which involves a doctor providing a terminally ill patient with the means to end their life.

Euthanasia is illegal in most Latin American countries, except for Colombia, which legalized it in 2015, and Ecuador, which decriminalized it in February.