IN FAVOR OF REGULATING AID IN DYING: FOCUS ON SPAIN (1)
Asunción Álvarez del Río, PhD
Final Exit Network member, Mexico City, Mexico
April 19th, 2019
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This post was written in Spanish and translated and edited. Our thanks to the author for this contribution to the FEN blog.]
In Spain the issue of assisted death is being discussed again after reports that Ángel Hernández helped to kill his wife, María José Carrasco, who was 62 years old. With his help, the woman was able to end her increasingly intolerable suffering. She had endured multiple sclerosis for 30 years, and the disease had progressed to such a degree that she could barely breathe, swallow, or talk, and the morphine she received to relieve her pain no longer helped her. Twenty years earlier, María José had tried to kill herself, but Ángel found her and called the emergency service. After that, he promised María José never to interfere with her desire to die again.
On April 3, responding to what his wife had wished many times, Ángel brought her a drink containing a lethal dose of medicine that she could sip through a straw. The couple had delayed the final moment, hoping that the proposed law to allow euthanasia would be approved, because María José feared for what might happen to her husband if he helped her die, since this action is currently considered a crime. (2) Anticipating what might happen, Angel made several videos in which the couple talked about María José’s condition and her decision to die. He included a final video of the moment he gave the solution to his wife after asking her if she was sure she wanted to take it. In one of the videos, Angel says: “This should be done by a doctor, a professional who agrees and that is why it is necessary that euthanasia be approved.” (3)
Certainly, very sick people who decide that death is preferable for them, have, along with their relatives, enough suffering to bear from the disease and from the pain involved in anticipating the separation, without also having to bear the weight of carrying out the action clandestinely to help the suffering person die, uncertain whether they will achieve the desired painless death, and whether the person who helps will have criminal consequences. That is why it is necessary to decriminalize medically assisted death, including euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. In May 2018, the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español) party promoted a proposal to legalize these actions, but it was rejected by two political parties: Partido Popular (People’s Party) and Ciudadanos (Citizens). (4)
When María José died, Ángel called emergency services and intentionally incriminated himself, because he wanted his action to be known and to stimulate the discussion about euthanasia. He was arrested, jailed overnight, and the next day, after giving his statement to the judge, was released. However, the case had an unfortunate turn: it was determined that it should be judged as a matter of gender violence because the death occurred with a couple in which the perpetrator was male and the victim was his partner. Thus, what was an act of love has been converted into an act of violence. (5)
It is appropriate here to recall the comment of Jesús Mosterín in a 2005 article in which he reflected on euthanasia: “Confusing euthanasia with homicide is like confusing love with rape, or a gift with theft, or what is voluntary with what is forced.” He criticized then (and it is still necessary to continue doing so) that the political party was not able to put aside the influence of the Catholic hierarchy, to respect secularism as should be done in a liberal democracy. (6) The supportive social response that Angel receives now demonstrates once again that society is much more prepared than politicians are to support individual liberties by decriminalizing euthanasia.
It is unfair for this case to be judged as gender violence, when Angel carried it out motivated by solidarity with, and love for, his wife. It is also a terrible mistake, because the protection against gender violence should be applied when the woman is the victim of violence due to discrimination, situations of inequality, or power relations of men over women, none of which is true of this case. We hope that the request of the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Madrid to revoke the instruction to remit the death of María José Carrasco to the courts of Violence against Women will proceed, as the instruction would send “a distorted message to society.” (7)
After such an action, Angel would be able to dedicate himself, as he wishes, to fight to make physician-assisted death a legal option in Spain.
More than 20 years have passed since the death of Ramón Sampedro (the main character of the film “Mar Adentro”), which initiated an important debate on the subject, since he also died thanks to the clandestine help of a friend. Hopefully, now that the debate is reopened, the moment is near when Angel and the majority of the Spanish population see what they want: that people will have the legal option of receiving help to die under the best possible conditions, if they decide that the best thing for them is to stop living.
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1 The original, more extensive version, and published in Spanish is at https://elsemanario.com/colaboradores/asuncion-alvarez-del-rio/310185/a-favor-de-regular-la-ayuda-para-morir/
2 Aid to suicide is a crime in Spain, but it is considered an extenuating circumstance when someone helps a very sick person who has asked for it and the penalty is reduced to between six months and two years in prison and going to prison can be avoided.
3 El marido de María José Carrasco antes de ayudarla a morir: “Esto lo tenía que hacer un médico, tenía que estar la eutanasia aprobada”. El Mundo, 4 de abril de 2019: https://www.elmundo.es/espana/2019/04/04/5ca6417cfdddff0b388b46c4.html
4 Euthanasia and physician assisted suicide are actions that are included under the concept of physician assisted death. In both actions, a doctor helps to die a patient who requests it; in euthanasia the same doctor performs the action (applying an injection, for example) and in the second the doctor provides the person with the means to end her life. The action carried out by Ángel Hernández is simply an assisted suicide.
5 Lloria, P. “Del amor a la violencia por determinación competencial”. El País, 12 de abril 2019: https://elpais.com/sociedad/2019/04/11/actualidad/1555004017_279863.html
6 Mosterín, J. “La buena muerte”. El País, 12 de abril de 2005: https://elpais.com/diario/2005/04/12/opinion/1113256807_850215.html
7 “Juzgar el suicidio de María José como violencia de género sería mandar un mensaje distorsionado”. ABC, 12 de abril, 2019:
