In Peru, a woman named Maria Teresa Benito Orihuela, 66, who suffers from advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and depends on an external respirator to breathe, has obtained a court order to have a “dignified death.” However, 12 doctors at the Edgardo Rebagliati Hospital where she is hospitalized have refused to turn off the devices, citing religious freedom and conscientious objection. They are not willing to carry out acts that violate their personal values.
The case of Orihuela follows that of Ana Estrada, who died on April 21st in Peru after fighting a legal battle for euthanasia. Estrada also suffered from a degenerative disease and was considered the first case of legal euthanasia in Peru. The court’s decisions in Estrada’s case were ratified by the Supreme Court on July 14th and 27th, 2022.
The Conference Peruvian Episcopal expressed concern about the court’s decision to allow euthanasia. “Euthanasia will always be the wrong path because it is an attack on the inalienable right to life,” said Father Juan Carlos de Labartigue in a statement. “The supreme purpose of the State is to care for, respect and promote life from its conception to its natural end; therefore, no authority can legitimately impose or permit this.”
Other Latin American countries have followed a similar path. In February, Ecuador legalized euthanasia when the Constitutional Court changed the legal framework for cases of people suffering from serious and incurable illnesses or irreversible injuries. In December, Cuba approved that euthanasias be authorized in the country as part of the new Cuban Public Health Law. Colombia has had euthanasia legal since 1997 but was only regulated in 2015 when hospitals began performing assisted suicide on terminally ill patients.
