All the times in which the system failed Erika, a neighbor from Lanzarote who wants to request euthanasia

When Erika arrived in Lanzarote more than 30 years ago, she carried the weight of having been a victim of sexual violence in childhood. In her native country, Colombia, she suffered a gang rape that not only destroyed her self-esteem but also her hope of continuing to live. Then came the horror of gender-based violence that she suffered for more than 23 years. 

Currently, Erika lives waiting to be evicted from the home where she resides in Argana Alta, in Arrecife, with her teenage son, while she battles to obtain euthanasia and end the physical and mental pain she suffers.

Epilepsy causes her to suffer frequent seizures and affects the duration of her employment. "It's very difficult to keep a job with a condition like this. You have seizures, and people aren't interested in having someone having seizures, much less falling to the ground and getting hurt," she recounts in an interview with La Voz. 

These frequent seizures sometimes cause Erika to convulse, her trachea to close and she can't breathe, she starts to hyperventilate, loses consciousness, and falls to the ground. On other occasions, she begins to tremble and hits herself without realizing it due to involuntary spasms. 

This chronic illness, which worsens in moments of stress, is added to the sequelae of having survived sexual and gender-based violence, and has led Erika to propose the option of requesting euthanasia to her doctor. Despite the doctor's opposition, this resident of Arrecife laments: "I think if I keep living, things will continue to happen."

This entire complex situation is worsened by the housing shortage that Lanzarote is experiencing, with constant price escalation. Her fight to achieve euthanasia, also known as assisted suicide, is also met with a court order to evict her and her son for non-payment of rent. 

"Ending my life like this is hard," Erika recounts. The eviction is scheduled for September 25 at 9:00 AM and comes at a time when this resident of Arrecife has no strength to go on living.

At the health center, her family doctor referred her two months ago to Psychiatry and Psychology consultations, but she has not yet received a call from the specialists. "Since I'm too cowardly to kill myself, I've requested euthanasia," she states.

Although she takes medication for epilepsy, this resident of Arrecife narrates that the episodes of epileptic seizures are becoming more frequent and intense. Furthermore, she is also receiving antipsychotics and antidepressants.

The housing alternatives she has left are practically nonexistent. She registered as a candidate for social housing in Arrecife, but she has not received that call either. "I don't want anything for free, I want a social housing unit, I don't want anything for free," she reiterates in a conversation with this media outlet. "At least for the time I have left, let me live it with dignity and not on the street," she pleads in a call full of desperation.

In the house where she currently lives and from which she stopped paying rent last December after the winter rains, Erika describes that she paid "something very economical, 420 euros" for a dwelling in which "the ceiling is falling, pieces are falling, there are bulging parts and incredible holes." Furthermore, "half the house has no electricity, it is inhumanely fit to live in, but it was what I found."

She has also knocked on the doors of shelters, but points out that the schedule, where she has to leave early in the morning and cannot return until the evening, makes it difficult for her to rest. "What do I do if I need to rest because of epilepsy?" she questions.

The judicial eviction decision

The Civil Section of Plaza number 6 of the Arrecife Court of First Instance ordered Erika to be evicted for the non-payment of rent for the dwelling where she resides in Argana Alta and to pay the property owner 2,940 euros.

Although Erika alleged that she had paid for the maintenance of the dwelling, which actually corresponded to the owner, the court dismissed her argument due to lack of evidence, and she will be evicted from the dwelling along with her minor son in mid-September.

Furthermore, the Court disregarded a vulnerability report issued by the Social Services of the Arrecife City Council and highlighted that said document "by itself" does not constitute "a sufficient element" to suspend the eviction and that her economic, family, or housing situation was not sufficiently proven.