One of the topics that attracted a lot of media attention in 2018 was the Spanish Congress agreeing to consider a bill drafted by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE) to make euthanasia a right that would be available through the public healthcare system in Spain. The proposal had a majority backing from left-wing Unidos Podemos, and from regional Catalan, Valencian and Basque parties. However, the main opposition, Party Popular (PP), opposed the bill, while Ciudadanos expressed its concerns.
The
debate was reignited in Spain after Madrileño Ángel Hernández was arrested for
ending his wife’s life by administering a lethal dose of pentobarbital, a drug
used in physician- assisted suicide in the Netherlands.
Hernández
spent a night in a Madrid police station, before appearing in court the
following day. He was released on bail pending an inquiry.
At
the time, euthanasia was considered homicide in Spain, so the country’s
criminal code punished co-operators in assisted suicide, albeit with
considerable understanding.
This
is a subject that I feel quite strongly about, so when I was asked to interview
another person who had been convicted of the same offence, and who wanted to
tell his story, I jumped at the chance.
This
is, without doubt, one of the most heart-rending assignments I have had to
date.
In
October 2018, Robert Van Damm was convicted for assisted suicide, and he had
decided to tell his story to SUR in English after learning about the case of
Ángel Hernández.
Robert
escaped a custodial sentence. He was given a six-month suspended sentence and a
two-year probation order by the courts in Torremolinos.
However,
even though Robert had his liberty, he would never be totally free from the
guilt he felt for the part he played in the death of his long-time girlfriend
in 2014.
I
first met Robert in La Carihuela, where he was living in a camper van with his
dog. I arrived at the interview feeling a little nervous to say the least, but
I was immediately put at ease by his mild and welcoming nature.
Even
though I had tried to prepare myself for a difficult and extremely personal
interview, I could never have imagined the effect his confessions would have.
One would hope never to be put in such a situation. Even though I believe someone who is terminally ill and with no hope of a quality of life - just a slow, agonising death - should have the right to terminate their life, it does beg the question of the effect it will have on those who participate.
For Robert, the heartache and pain began soon after the
suicide, as he would live with the secret for more than three years.
I tried to imagine how this man must have felt on
returning home after the suicide, having known he had played a crucial role in
his lover’s death.
He explained that he felt he had offered her the best
solution, ‘the ultimate sacrifice of love’.
However, he was not prepared for the terrible feelings
of guilt that he would suffer over the coming months. He began drinking one
litre of vodka each day in order to blot out the pain and even contemplated his
own suicide.
He lived with the secret for six months before he
found the courage to speak with a trusted friend. Robert explained what he had
done and his reasons for keeping it a secret, and the friend advised him to go
to the police. Robert declined, as he wanted to keep the promise he had made to
Charlee. He knew that one day his
participation would eventually catch up with him and he spent the next few
years just waiting for the police to knock at the door.
An excerpt from the book A Cohort of Creative Bohemians and other interesting individuals
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