Ramón Sampedro

Ramón Sampedro (January 5, 1943 – January 12, 1998) was a ship fisherman from Galicia, Spain, who was paralyzed in a diving accident at the age of 25 and fought for his right to an assisted suicide for the next 29 years.

His argument hinged on the fact that he was sure of his decision to die. However, owing to his paralysis, he was physically unable to commit suicide without help. He argued that suicide was a right that he was being denied, and he sought legal advice concerning his right to receive assistance to end his life, first in the courts of Spain, where his case attracted country-wide attention. Eventually, his fight became known worldwide.

Death and aftermath

Sampedro died on Monday, January 12, 1998, in Boiro, Spain, from potassium cyanide poisoning. Several days later, a close friend of Ramón, Ramona Maneiro, was arrested and charged with assisting his suicide but was released due to lack of evidence. No further charges were ever filed in connection with Ramón's death.

Seven years later, after the statute of limitations had expired, Maneiro, speaking on a Spanish talk show, admitted to providing Sampedro with a cyanide-laced drink and a straw. She said "I did it for love." She also said she had turned on the video camera that recorded Ramón's last words before he drank the poison and that she was in the room, behind the camera, when he died.

"Mar adentro"

The story of Sampedro's life and death was made into a Spanish movie, "Mar adentro" (English title: "The Sea Inside") (2004), in which he was portrayed by Javier Bardem. The movie drew international attention and won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.

External links

*cite news
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1998/int/980126/file.live_and_let_die.sh11.html
publisher=TIME
title=Live and Let Die
date=JANUARY 26, 1998 Article by Rod Usher in TIME magazine written shortly after Sampedro's death.
*cite news
url=http://personal2.redestb.es/admd/ramwill.html
publisher=DMD
title=RAMÓN SAMPEDRO'S WILL
date=March 9, 1998 Partial text of Ramón Sampedro's Will, addressed to "Honors, Political and Religious Authorities" (Translated by Denise Lanzer-Lerma)
*cite news
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402E0D61430F93AA35750C0A96E958260
publisher=The New York Times
title=A Suicide Tape on TV Inflames the Issue in Spain
date=March 9, 1998