Terminally ill Peru woman demands right to euthanasia

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED: 16:37 EST, 7 February 2020 | UPDATED: 16:47 EST, 7 February 2020

LIMA, Peru (AP) - A Peruvian woman who is almost completely paralyzed and requires round-the-clock care for a terminal illness took her fight to change the South American nation´s law forbidding euthanasia to the country´s courts Friday.

The public defender´s office joined Ana Estrada in filing a lawsuit urging the Ministry of Health and other state institutions not to enforce a law punishing those who help terminal patients end their lives. The law carries penalties of up to three years in jail.

The 43-year-old woman with polymyositis, a disease that wastes away muscles and has no cure, is also asking Peru´s government to establish new regulations allowing patients like her the right to choose how and when to die.

"This is about life," said Estrada, who spoke to journalists through a live video feed transmitted from her sick bed announcing the suit.

Estrada first began experiencing the side effects of her illness at age 12. By 20, she was too weak to walk and started using a wheelchair. Even so, she graduated from university with a psychology degree and worked as a therapist.

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-7979925/Terminally-ill-Peru-woman-demands-right-euthanasia.html