Media focuses on those wanting to die, not to live

LifeSiteNews 18 May 2015
“I am Valentina Maureira. I am 14 years old. I have Cystic Fibrosis. I ask to urgently talk to the president, because I’m tired of living with this illness and she can authorize for me [to receive] the injection to fall asleep forever.”

These were the words in a viral YouTube video that sparked international controversy this February. Euthanasia is illegal in Chile.

Valentina got the idea to ask for a lethal injection from Brittany Maynard, a terminally ill patient who moved to Oregon because the state legalized assisted suicide. Maynard died from the procedure last year. But unlike Maynard, Valentina later changed her mind about her request.

“She is now determined to fight for her life and those of other children suffering from her same serious illness,” said her father.

Despite her dying wishes, her dramatic case was used to promote euthanasia in Chile.

Although the government had said last November that euthanasia was not going to be a legislative priority, Senator Guido Girardi from the Party for Democracy – a member of the Socialist International – used Valentina’s case to argue for “people’s right to decide against therapeutic obstinacy…when a person eventually wants to not submit herself to treatments – we are in favor of that.”

Senator Fulvio Rossi, from the Socialist Party said that “Chile must have a law to allow assisted suicide for terminally ill patients who want to die, to avoid the unbearable pain of a terminal illness.”

Freddy Maureira, Valentina’s father, accused Senator Girardi of using his daughter’s case for his own political agenda.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/when-my-14-year-old-daughter-wanted-to-live-the-world-ignored-her.-when-she