In the last plenary session, we had an appearance in the Parliament of the Canary Islands in which the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, reported to the Chamber on how the process of implementing the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia (LORE) in the Canary Islands had been after its first year of approval and entry into force.
We are talking about what it means for so many people, in an extreme situation of incurable diseases and great suffering, the possibility of availing themselves of this right and deciding, with full mental faculties, how they want their end of life to be.
Euthanasia literally means "good death" and that is precisely what it is about, to dignify also that transcendental moment, because there is no life without death, as there is no death without life, dignifying death is therefore also dignifying life, understanding what this process means and implies and that both, life and death, are faces of the same coin.
Those who understood and understand it have been fighting for centuries, from different corners of the planet, for the legislations of the different countries to listen to them, understand this concept and transform it into a right.
Legislating to expand rights is part of our work in Parliament. Thus, on rights for the end of life, Law 1/2015, of February 9, on Rights and Guarantees of the Dignity of the Person in the Face of the Final Process of his Life, was approved in the Autonomous Chamber of the Canary Islands, in which the Advance Statements of Will (living will) acquire great relevance.
and which is complemented in 2021 with Organic Law 3/2021, of March 24, on the Regulation of Euthanasia, on this occasion of state scope, and therefore of mandatory compliance for the entire State.
Another of our tasks as parliamentarians is to control the executive, hence the request for this appearance to the Minister of Health, to know and assess the process of implementation of the LORE in the Canary Islands in this first year of operation.
But, oh surprise, it was not a flat appearance! criticisms and strange allusions rained down from some honorable members, who, lacking solid political arguments in relation to the object of the appearance, put different and far-fetched excuses for not addressing the substance of the matter.
It is not my style, as a parliamentarian, to enter into personal struggles or confrontations. My parliamentary group, Sí Podemos Canarias, and I as a deputy, may be at odds on some issues from an ideological and political point of view, but I always try to maintain the tone, passionate in defense of ideas, but without taking the bait of the squabbles and even less in those noisy spectacles that so often occur in other Chambers and that sometimes -few, everything must be said- are also experienced in our Parliament.
On this occasion, and in the face of such a momentous issue, I have to acknowledge the bewilderment that some interventions produced in me, not so much that of the PP, which was somewhat expected and whose argument was not very different from the one they gave last year in a similar appearance: that if how we were now taking up this issue with what is falling, that with so many people dying of COVID talking about death, that if they are to save lives, etc...
Really, one does not know if it is that they do not understand it or do not want to understand it, talking about dignified death -like talking about dignified lives- is always appropriate and in all contexts, because there are always people who are dying, and before that moment it is important to have the information and the necessary support to be able to decide, while we have the capacity to do so, how we want our end to be.
And, of course (one understands that this should not have to be repeated, but apparently it is still necessary and it has to be explained again) the fact that there is the possibility, legally regulated, of exercising the right to euthanasia, to assisted death, fulfilling the requirements established by law -an extremely guarantor law, we must not forget- being this a decision that can only be taken directly by the person concerned, in full use of their mental faculties, either in the present, or if, having lost them, were registered in the document of Advance Statements of Will (MAV), DOES NOT IMPLY, at all, as anyone will understand, that anyone has to be forced to exercise this right.
Ward off the ghosts, ladies and gentlemen, if you really have them, neither the right to divorce forces us to divorce, nor does equal marriage oblige homosexual people to marry, this debate is very hypocritical, especially when we know that there are parties, such as the Popular Party, that systematically oppose the legalization of these rights, but then they are the first to divorce as many times as necessary, or to marry among themselves without batting an eye.
Of course, it is clear that the PP's lack of coherence between its theoretical discourse and its practices does not generate any problem for it, but we already knew that.
I was more surprised by the extravagant discourse of Coalición Canaria, which one never knows if they are coming or going, in ideological terms they are difficult to catalog, they have everything as in pharmacy, the glue that unites them, despite so many differences, must be very powerful, I suppose they must be such deep interests that many vulgar mortals escape us, but that is another matter.
What surprised me, surprised us, is that they said that this debate was out of place in the Chamber. Really? I could not get over my astonishment, talking about rights, about dignified death in the Canary Islands -remember our Law of 2015- after fulfilling the first year with a comprehensive law such as the LORE, which expands rights for citizens, which represents a historic advance, which finally legalizes that, within the autonomous public health system, the right to euthanasia is guaranteed.
Does it seem inappropriate, out of place? Well, where do some honorable members think this should be discussed?
And, the final argument was that the LORE is a state law, that was good, a weighty argument, because, of course, in the Parliament of the Canary Islands you can not talk about state laws that are mandatory rules, it will be that they came out the nationalist rejo and the 'the Spains' is far from them, but it is seen that only for this issue, of which we knew little or nothing, because on Law 39/2006, of December 14, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for people in a situation of dependency if we like to talk, whatever it takes, plenary yes and another one too.
Ah, that its application in the Canary Islands depends on the Ministry of Social Rights whose minister is the colleague of Podemos Noemí Santana? Wow, a minor detail that we had not noticed.
Honorable members of CC, argue a little better, with a little more foundation, you have spent many years governing and one day, surely, you will do it again.
Know that the right to end of life, to good palliative care, to a dignified death, is as important as the right to a dignified life, and you will be the ones who one day will have to manage it, it is frightening the frivolity with which they addressed something so serious and transcendent, and also, do not forget, no one escapes from this, death is democratic and one day it will come to all of us.
Life in general is already hard enough, but for some people it is much harder, so in my speech I wanted to read part of the written testimony of Estrella López, a 57-year-old woman from Malaga who left an open letter to the whole society, to be published on the same day of her death, when finally, after a tortuous path, she was able to exercise her right to euthanasia.
I quote a fragment from the end: "the laws need will and means to apply them. And in this matter, a special human sensitivity is also required, which unfortunately has been absent in my case, except for my doctors, the family doctor and palliative care. Paradoxically, a law that tried to alleviate the so-called therapeutic obstinacy, has ended up entangled in another type of
obstinacy, administrative obstinacy. I hope my testimony helps those who come after me."
This happened a couple of months ago in Andalusia, to prevent such events from occurring in our land, and that no one has to live this added suffering at the end of their life in the Canary Islands, ladies and gentlemen, was the object of our appearance.
María del Río Sánchez, President of the Parliamentary Group Sí Podemos Canarias
