QUITO, Ecuador - In a groundbreaking decision, Ecuador's high court has decriminalized euthanasia and paved the way for lawmakers and health officials to establish rules and regulations for the procedure. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by a terminally ill woman diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), who argued for the right to have death with dignity.
Ecuador now joins Colombia as the only countries in Latin America to have decriminalized euthanasia, a practice where doctors use drugs to purposefully end the lives of terminally ill patients. This approach is also legal in countries such as Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, as well as in several states in Australia. The issue is currently being debated in Chile.
