Cicero’s case revives debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide in Brazil – MercoPress

Cicero’s case revives the debate on euthanasia and assisted suicide in Brazil

Cicero, 79, suffered from Alzheimer’s disease

The case of Brazilian poet and composer António Cicero, who died last week of euthanasia in Switzerland, has reignited a debate in South America’s largest country about whether the practice should be legalized, Agencia Brasil reported on Sunday.

“Dear friends, I am in Switzerland on the verge of euthanasia. The thing is, my life has become unbearable. I suffer from Alzheimer’s disease…” wrote 79-year-old Cicero in a posthumous letter. “I hope I have lived with dignity and I hope to die with dignity,” he also noted on Wednesday, before continuing the procedure in a country where assisted suicide is allowed.

His case reignited the debate about euthanasia, assisted suicide and the dignity of death for people who could not afford to travel abroad to take their own lives.

Veterinary student Carolina Arruda, 27, from the city of Bambuí (MG), has suffered from trigeminal neuralgia since the age of 16, a disease that affects the facial nerves and causes intense pain, described by health professionals as so severe that it is impossible to ignore. Even in a painful and complex scenario, she campaigned for funds to carry out assisted suicide in Switzerland. Living with “unbearable pain”, Karolina estimates that she would need over R$200,000 (approximately USD 35,000) to perform the procedure.

“It is still my dream to see my daughter graduate from school. He’s still 10 years old. That’s why he doesn’t know if it will be possible. My lifestyle today is basically in bed all day, because if I do any physical exertion, I will faint from the pain.

She explains that it was very difficult to come up with a procedure that would end her life. “I still don’t have the courage to say it. My family doesn’t accept it, but they understand. It was friends and family who witnessed how these days turned into an experience of excruciating pain for Karolina. He knows that it will take a long time to receive the required documentation in Switzerland. “Over four years. I know that this issue is not even discussed in Brazil and it won’t be any time soon. There is a veil over his eyes,” she added.

Aline Albuquerque, a legal researcher and professor of bioethics at UnB, pointed out that both euthanasia and assisted suicide are still crimes under the Brazilian Penal Code. “In Brazil, we have no legislative changes in this area. This is a complex problem not only in Brazil. Currently, there is a draft of a new Penal Code in the Senate regarding euthanasia with the possibility of the judge not applying the penalty.”

However, scientists believe that the increase in the number of older people (people over 65 years of age constitute 10.9% of the population) and the evolution of technologies that keep people alive in irreversible situations should make discussions on this topic more and more frequent.

“Distance is, for example, artificial extension of life without necessity. This is a life that will involve a lot of pain. Assisted suicide is a form of suicide discussed and implemented in European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland,” the expert said.

Professor Maria Júlia Kovács argued that “Europeans are more advanced, and so is North America. Whether in the United States, where assisted suicide is used, or in Canada, where assisted death is used. Here in Latin America, Colombia, Uruguay and Chile are discussing this topic. She added that “the first step Brazil should take is to discuss this issue.”

“Another option for dying with dignity in our country is advance directives in which a person specifies what treatment they would like at the end of life, especially what they would not want,” she explained.

“People may talk about decriminalization (the practice of euthanasia), but it is important to recognize that it would be necessary, for example, to organize a public health system for this purpose,” she continued, downplaying concerns that if euthanasia were approved, it would be possible to perform it at home. “It doesn’t exist. They need to be helped by health care workers.”

Albuquerque insisted that death was a taboo in Brazil’s pluralistic society, which respected the sanctity of life and also kept it within the sphere of individual autonomy. “It is very difficult for the state to take a stand in the face of such a complex moral dispute.”