Euthanasia: The case of María José Carrasco gathers more than 200,000 signatures and mobilizes support in the networks | Society

The news of the detention of Ángel Hernández for helping to kill his wife, María José Carrasco, has reopened the debate about euthanasia not only between the parties, in full campaign, but also in social networks, and shows the social interest that the subject arouses. Reactions to information on the case of women, terminally ill with multiple sclerosis, have skyrocketed, as have Google searches on euthanasia and related terms. A petition on the change.org platform to the prosecution So that he does not press charges against Hernández, he has gathered more than 200,000 signatures in 21 hours.

Some users have reacted by sharing their close cases. "My dad also has multiple sclerosis for 42 years and also says that he wants to die and you do not know the pain that guy gives me, you do not know," counted the tweeter @ Silvi_ta, in a message with almost 900 I like it.

"Someday I have a pain so intense that I take X (with a prescription) and I go ...", says the network Joana Maria Escartín, PhD in Economic History, with multiple sclerosis for 30 years, as Carrasco.

"Euthanasia should be a right. My mother with lung cancer was dying without machines for a long time and she asked my father to kill her. What is the point of prolonging the suffering? Commented Ximena Cedeño de la Cruz in the news published on the Facebook page of this newspaper.

My father also has multiple sclerosis for 42 years and he also says that he wants to die and you do not know how bad that man gives me, you do not know.

- Silvi 🇪🇺 (@Silvi_ta) April 4, 2019

"I lived this with my father," he told me, after three amputations of a leg in a month and a week, "help me." I did not know how to do it and, I must admit, I was afraid. for my heart, that told me to 'disconnect' ... That's right: in a hospital (public) In my humble opinion it is cruel not to accept the patient's decision When the time comes I will try to help me leave WHEN I WANT ¡¡", Assures a reader in the information published this Thursday by this newspaper about the suicide of Carrasco and the detention of Hernández, which adds about 1,500 comments.

"As the only relative of a person who has been 22 years with Alzheimer's totally vegetable -my mother-, I only say two things:

- He who opposes euthanasia and has not gone through something like that, has no idea what this is. Abstain from your opinion, no matter how much prejudice you have, please.

- Nobody is forced to get out of the way. But forbidding everyone in certain situations and circumstances have to suffer to unimaginable extremes because the imaginary friend of a part of the population and politicians "forbids", is not that it is inhuman, it is disgusting, "is another of the comments to the news.

Exactly! And I tell you with full knowledge. Someday I have a pain so intense that I take X (with a prescription) and I go ...

- Joana Maria Escartín (@ jomaesbi1968) April 5, 2019

The URL of this information has been added in the different social networks of EL PAÍS more than 21,000 comments and has been shared more than 22,000 times. Only the publication on the Facebook page has obtained 720% more coverage than the average of last month, 909% of comments and 1768% more than shared. Many of the readers' comments are in support of Hernández. There are also many who ask that you not be punished and that euthanasia be decriminalized.

"All my support. The best proof of love for his wife helping him in a DIGNA death, "writes Ana Begipe on Facebook."I want the euthanasia law already, to die with dignity, the politicians must do and approve what most people want, Angel and M José, thank you, thank you because possibly you, and also Mr. Sampedro who used the same way of dying dignified, take us into account and approve the law, "says Pilar Ortiz in the same network." These agonies occur in the homes of thousands of people every day. He has been very brave and confronts us with our demons, with our fears. Actions like these help society to mature, to understand that we are not mere subjects of the laws. Laws are made so that human beings can live better, not to suffer ", writes a reader in the news.

The data show that Google searches on "euthanasia" began to increase this Thursday at eight in the morning, with several peaks that coincide with the time of television news, the highest at three o'clock on Friday afternoon , and the next, at nine o'clock on Thursday night. The searches these two days have surpassed two recurring themes at present, the procés and the elections. In addition, terms related to the case have been sought, such as "maria jose euthanasia", "maria jose", "angel euthanasia", "legal euthanasia" or "pentobarbital", the substance used by Carrasco to commit suicide.

Also included in the searches was the petition on change.org, initiated this Thursday by Marcos Hourmann, the first doctor condemned in Spain for euthanasia. A pact with the Prosecutor's Office reduced the sentence requested (10 years in prison for homicide) to one year in prison without disqualification as a doctor. Hourmann, whose case has just premiered as a play, He pleaded guilty to killing a patient terminal in 2005, to which he injected potassium chloride because the patient did not want to continue suffering and her daughter was satisfied. "When I woke up today and saw that Ángel Hernández had been arrested for helping his wife to die, I felt anger and helplessness, the same feeling that I felt more than 10 years ago," explains the doctor on the signature platform. "We can not let Angel be punished for an act of compassion," he says.