International
Colombian dies publicly under new euthanasia policy
AFP
Victor Escobar decided to die and to do so publicly, becoming one of the first Latin Americans to end their life without suffering from a terminal disease, under a ground-breaking court ruling in Colombia.
Hours before dying on Friday, 60 year old Escobar celebrated what he called victory in his two-year battle with a lung ailment that left him unable to breathe on his own.
“Little by little, it becomes everyone’s turn. So I do not say goodbye but rather, see you soon. And little by little we will end up with God,” Escobar, who is a practicing Catholic, said in a video sent to news organizations.
He died in the city of Cali with doctors present, his lawyer said on Twitter.
The last footage of him alive shows him smiling and surrounded by family. He was sedated and then given a lethal injection.
Colombia depenalized assisted death in 1997, and in July 2021 a high court expanded this “right to dignified death” to those not suffering from a terminal illness.
It is the first Latin American country to take the step and one of the few in the world, and did so despite being mostly Roman Catholic. The church categorically opposes euthanasia and assisted suicide.
“I was already feeling sick. I felt like my lungs did not obey me,” Escobar told AFP in October as he waged the final chapter of his legal battle.
– Non terminal-
Diabetes and a cardiovascular ailment left him in a wheel chair and suffering from spasms that wracked his body.
His family backed the idea of euthanasia.
In Europe only Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and Spain have legalized euthanasia.
Colombia may have joined that list but access to the procedure is not always smooth.
As of mid-2021 patients like Escobar — with chronic diseases and a life expectancy of more than six months — could not undergo euthanasia.
“They were being forced to live in undignified conditions against their will,” said Monica Giraldo of an NGO called the Foundation for the Right to Dignified Death.
She said that since the court ruling on euthanasia, three people with non-terminal diseases used it to end their lives but Escobar is the first to do so with cameras rolling so the public could witness it.
“I want my story to be known because it creates a path for patients like me, patients with degenerative conditions, to have an open door to seek rest,” Escobar said.
Escobar has said he got ill from years of working with exposure to asbestos, an insulating material now known to cause cancer.
– Permission to die –
In October of last year a panel at the Imbanaco clinic rejected Escobar’s request for euthanasia, after two years of earlier petitions that were also rejected.
The committee argued that Escobar was not terminal and there were still ways to try to alleviate his suffering.
Days earlier in another city, Medellin, 51 year old Martha Sepulveda, suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also saw her request to die cancelled at the last minute on grounds that she was not terminal.
Giraldo said hospitals sometimes deny euthanasia requests over “ideological positions” or scrap them at the last minute over legal concerns.
But Escobar appealed in court and won. He chose to die on January 7 — a Friday, so it would be easy for relatives to go to his funeral on the weekend, his lawyer said.
“I suffer from my diseases, and I suffer watching ny family suffer because of me,” Escobar said in October, gasping for breath.
The courts also granted permission for Sepulveda to die. Like Escobar she had gone public with her case.
The government says at least 157 people have chosen euthanasia since the July 2021 legal change.
Giraldo’s foundation is now working with five people seeking assisted suicide, two of them with non terminal conditions.
Shortly before dying, Escobar said God does not like to see people suffer.
“I do not think God will punish me for trying to stop suffering,” he said.
International
Ukraine’s security a priority as NATO discusses future of conflict with Russia
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is holding an informal meeting on Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders to discuss the “next steps” in the conflict with Russia.
The meeting is expected to include several heads of government, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, as well as senior officials from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Poland.
The United Kingdom will be represented by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, while the European Union will be represented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.
Speaking to the Italian parliament on Tuesday, Meloni stated that the meeting in Brussels was an “important opportunity to discuss the future of the conflict.”
On Wednesday, Rutte stated that the current priority was to provide Ukraine with weapons and resources to place the country in a stronger position.
“If we now discuss among ourselves what a potential agreement might look like, we will be making it easier for Russia,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scholz stated that discussing the deployment of troops to monitor a ceasefire “makes no sense.”
On Wednesday, before the European Parliament, von der Leyen emphasized that reinforcing Ukraine’s capabilities was “not just a moral imperative, but also a strategic one.”
According to von der Leyen, “The world is watching. Our friends, and especially our adversaries, are closely observing how we sustain our support for Ukraine.”
For Ukraine, it is a race against time, as Trump insists on a peace agreement to end the war (which he promises to resolve in one day) and suggests the possibility of suspending military aid to Kiev.
Ukrainian leaders, who had been adamantly opposed to the idea of peace negotiations with Russia, are now admitting the possibility, provided the country’s security is guaranteed.
International
Patient hospitalized with severe avian flu case in Louisiana, CDC reports
A patient has been hospitalized with a severe case of avian flu in Louisiana, United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Wednesday.
Authorities have recorded a total of 61 cases of avian flu infections in the U.S., but all other cases have been mild.
Details of the confirmed case, which occurred on Friday, have not been disclosed, and the patient’s prognosis is unknown.
Genetic sequencing revealed that the H5N1 virus in the patient belonged to the D1.1 genotype, which has recently been detected in wild and domestic birds in the U.S., as well as in people in Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia.
The D1.1 genotype differs from the B3.13, which was identified in dairy cows and has triggered some outbreaks in poultry and people with mild symptoms like conjunctivitis.
A few human cases in the U.S. have not come from contact with animals, but health authorities believe it is too early to suggest person-to-person transmission.
The CDC considers the risk to the general public to be low.
In March, an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian flu or H5N1 was first reported in several states.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
Ukraine’s security a priority as NATO discusses future of conflict with Russia
Patient hospitalized with severe avian flu case in Louisiana, CDC reports
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
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