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ARCHIVED - Elderly woman commits suicide after being refused euthanasia
The 83-year-old woman threw herself from a balcony in her home in Zaragoza, Spain
An elderly woman died by suicide in Zaragoza on Saturday November 6 by jumping from her balcony after she repeatedly requested euthanasia and was ignored. The Die with Dignity (DMD) association has severely criticised the “total silence” of both the patient’s doctor and local medical centre who failed to process her appeal to die even though she “met the requirements to request it.”
Official sources report that the victim, named only as Emilia, suffered from a congenital hip dislocation which had deteriorated over the years and caused her chronic physical pain.
Emilia’s condition had no hope of improvement and she had been completely dependent on her family for the past three years since she was bedridden.
According to the DMD, the woman had previously attempted suicide twice before being informed of the changes to the Euthanasia Regulation Law passed earlier this year. At that point, she immediately applied but never received a response.
Emilia’s first application was through her GP in July who refused to process it, and the 83-year-old made several enquiries at her medical centre, but was reportedly ignored.
Eventually her family stepped in and were told that the request had been forwarded to “an evaluation committee” who also failed to contact them.
In euthanasia cases, all doctors reserve the right to conscientiously object but another medical professional should be assigned to the patient, something that didn’t happen in this situation.
In the last few days, a 58-year-old man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) became the first patient in Madrid to be euthanised.
Image: Archive
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