- Title: Peru's court ruling grants woman right to euthanasia after long legal battle
- Date: 15th July 2022
- Summary: LIMA, PERU (FILE - MAY 15, 2022) (REUTERS) ESTRADA LOOKING PLANTS VARIOUS OF ESTRADA TOURING HER HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PERUVIAN PROPONENT OF ASSISTED SUICIDE, ANA ESTRADA, SAYING: "This victory will help me to cope better with the imminent and inevitable deterioration of the disease. It will give me peace of mind and calm." VARIOUS OF NURSE ASSISTING ESTRADA (SOUNDBIT
- Embargoed: 29th July 2022 18:46
- Keywords: Peru Supreme Court euthanasia
- Location: LIMA, PERU
- City: LIMA, PERU
- Country: Peru
- Topics: Fundamental Rights/Civil Liberties,South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA004218315072022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Peruvian Supreme Court on Thursday (July 14) ratified the ruling that recognises the fundamental right of Peruvian Ana Estrada to a dignified death, according to the Ombudsman's Office.
After a five-year court battle, the Peruvian court ruling allows Estrada, a 44-year-old psychologist who has suffered from polymyositis for three decades, to end her life when she chooses in a country where euthanasia is illegal.
The ruling issued this week upholds a previous court decision that requires Peru's state health insurance to provide "all the conditions" for Estrada's euthanasia, which must be carried out within ten days of the woman expressing her wish to end her life.
"This victory will help me to cope better with the imminent and inevitable deterioration of the disease. It will give me peace of mind and calm," the wheelchair-bound woman told Reuters in May while awaiting the supreme court's ruling.
Estrada breathes with assistance from a respirator most of the time and is assisted almost daily by a nurse.
Polymyositis is a rare disease that attacks her muscles with degenerative deterioration and has no cure.
Euthanasia is not allowed in many countries, and in Peru, where most people are Catholic, many conservatives strongly oppose the practice. In Latin America, Colombia allows the procedure under certain conditions.
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