First Colombian with non-terminal illness dies legally by euthanasia

BOGOTA: Colombian Victor Escobar became the first person in the Andean country with a non-terminal illness to die by legally regulated euthanasia late on Friday, his lawyer Luis Giraldo confirmed.

Escobar, 60, suffered from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes greatly diminished quality of life, as well as a number of other conditions, Giraldo told Reuters.

Colombia’s Constitutional Court removed penalties for euthanasia under certain circumstances in 1997 and ordered the procedure to be regulated in 2014. The first person in Colombia with a terminal illness to die under those rules was in 2015.

“We reached the goal for patients like me, who aren’t terminal but degenerative, to win this battle, a battle that opens the doors for the other patients who come after me and who right now want a dignified death,” Escobar said in a video message sent to media by Giraldo.

The procedure took place in a clinic in Cali, the capital city of Colombia’s Valle del Cauca province. “I’m not saying goodbye, just ‘see you later,’” Escobar said.