Quito. In an extraordinary session, the Supreme Court of Ecuador decided by seven votes to two to decriminalize euthanasia under certain conditions.
She should then permitted if the euthanasia is carried out by a doctor, the person concerned requests it after their clear and informed consent (or does so through a representative if they are unable to do so themselves) and in a serious and incurable condition suffers from illness or injury.
The judges are calling on the National Human Rights Institution (Defensoría del Pueblo) to prepare a draft law within the next six months. Parliament then has one year to discuss and adopt it.
The Ministry of Health is expected to issue a regulation in the next two months that will temporarily regulate euthanasia in accordance with the ruling.
The judicial decision is based on the case of Paola Roldán, who brought her lawsuit to the Supreme Court in August 2023. She has been suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for three years, an incurable disease that destroys parts of the nervous system, causing inability to move and ultimately death.
After various unsuccessful treatments, Roldán, already bedridden, decided to make her fate public. She hired a legal team and waged an intensive public campaign. The Supreme Court has now met their concerns in the essential demands.
However, the verdict also met with criticism, for example in the Catholic Church. The bishops’ conference called the verdict “diabolical” in a February 14 communiqué because human life is “sacred and inviolable.” She also expressed her concern that the unclear definition of “serious and incurable illness” from her perspective could lead to people with mental disorders being killed. Finally, she criticized that the ruling would discriminate against the poor, as only a few percent of the population had access to palliative medicine as an alternative to euthanasia.
Róldan himself was moved and said in a press conference: “I thank those who supported me and also my opponents. The fight for human rights is never an easy path. Today Ecuador is a warmer, freer and more dignified country.”
With this decision, Ecuador is the second in Latin America to allow euthanasia, after Colombia.