Lima, Peru, Feb 10, 2020 / 12:01 pm
A terminally ill Peruvian woman filed a lawsuit Friday requesting that the state recognize a right to euthanasia.
The Peruvian ombudsman's office presented the case on behalf of Ana Estrada Feb. 7.
Walter Gutiérrez Camacho, the ombudsman, said that his office is representing Estrada because of "our role as guarantor and promoter of fundamental rights so that the free and informed will of a person to decide to cease his life is repected and guaranteed, when by certain conditions, as in this case, their human dignity is gravely and irreversibly affected."
Voluntary euthanization of a person with intolerable pain is the criminal offense of homicide in Peru, and can be penalized with up to three years imprisonment.