On Aug. 8, 2023, Roldán, 42, filed a lawsuit with the court seeking to declare Article 144 of the Penal Code unconstitutional. The article punishes causing a person to die under various circumstances (i.e., not first degree murder) with prison sentences of 10 to 13 years. On Feb. 7, the country’s highest court declared the article to be constitutional in general but made an exception for euthanasia under certain conditions.
According to the court ruling, the article remains valid, but an exception is established for doctors who help patients who meet certain criteria: first, that the person requests euthanasia in a free and informed manner or through a representative if the patient cannot express himself; second, that the patient is suffering intensely due to a serious and irreversible injury or an incurable disease.
Under the conditions previously noted, a doctor cannot be punished for performing euthanasia.
In basing its decision, the Constitutional Court stated that “the challenged article (144) in the case addressed is contrary to the right to free development of personality,” arguing that in certain extreme cases these rights can justify the exception to the prohibition of euthanasia.
According to Villafuerte, “no palliative care law” has been promoted in Ecuador but instead “the constitution has been manipulated” in this case.
The court’s decision “is a new manipulation since it opens the door to a slippery slope where anyone can request that such vulnerable articles of the Penal Code be reinterpreted. The only article that criminalizes homicide in Ecuador has been altered, it has been violated. Our security under the law, our security as citizens, as Ecuadorians, has been left helpless in the face of any type of threat,” she said.