A final blow of the hair dryer to polish up your brushing. Catherine* wants to be beautiful for her departure. “I don’t want to go with dirty hair”, smiles this French sexagenarian, installed in Andalusia. Four years after being diagnosed with a severe form of Parkinson’s disease, Catherine has lost all autonomy and carers take turns at her home day and night. “The hardest part is having someone here all the time. For everything, to dress, to walk…”, she explains. She therefore decided to resort to active euthanasia.
At 63, Catherine is the first woman to benefit from it in Andalusia. His disease is incurable and incapacitating. And his choice, informed: “I always thought that the day when I would no longer be able to be myself, I would like to end it”, she says.
If the legalization of euthanasia came into force in Spain in June 2021, the Andalusian regional commission was only set up five months later. It was therefore only on December 26 that a positive response arrived for Catherine: “It was my Christmas present. For me, it’s a terrible release.”
One of her carers and long-time friend, Pascale, accompanied her in the process. “From the summer, we were there to build the file, and everything was completed relatively quickly. But there was a very long wait, due to the fact that the commission had not been set up and that it was slow to be constituted”, she says, specifying that this hasThe attempt was very painful for Catherine. “She had such a desire to leave, and then she wanted a date, she only thought about it”, remembers Pascale. “When you can no longer do anything yourself, neither light a cigarette, nor drink a glass of water, absolutely nothing… There is nothing left in fact.”
“There, it’s shit, so you might as well go look elsewhere. I’ll tell you”
To submit a file, you must be visited by two doctors, a general practitioner and a specialist in the applicant’s disease. Catherine had to change general practitioner, hers having refused to accede to her request.
SAccording to Eva Camps Olmedo, of the association national Right to die with dignity (DMD), the medical profession sometimes blocks: “There are doctors and doctors who do not accept requests, others who accept them but leave them in the drawers without taking any steps… In short, the professionals do not know what to do, they have no information or training, they do not have the tools to support these people.” And theespanish doctors can always declare themselves conscientious objectors. According to polls, 87% of the Spanish population is in favor of euthanasia.
Catherine fell asleep for good this Thursday, January 13, at home, surrounded by her loved ones and a medical team.
*Name has been changed