Ramón Sampedro

Ramón Sampedro
Born Ramón Sampedro Cameán
(1943-01-05)January 5, 1943
Porto do Son, Galicia, Spain
Died January 12, 1998(1998-01-12) (aged 55)
Boiro, Galicia, Spain
Cause of death Assisted suicide
Nationality Spanish
Occupation Seaman
Known for Right-to-die case

Ramón Sampedro Cameán (5 January 1943 – 12 January 1998) was a Spanish seaman and writer. Sampedro became a quadriplegic at the age of 25 (23 August 1968), following a diving accident, and fought for his right to an assisted suicide for the next 29 years.

Demand for suicide

Place in As Furnas where Ramón Sampedro jumped into.

As a young man he jumped into the sea from rocks near his home, a fishing village in the northern Spanish region of Galicia.[1] Misjudging the water's depth, he struck his head on the bottom.[1] He sustained a complete spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.[1]

Sampedro tried Spain's lower courts, its higher courts, and even the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg to end his life.[1] 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

Commemorative plaque for Sampedro in As Furnas.

Sampedro died on Monday 12 January 1998 in Boiro, Spain, from potassium cyanide poisoning.[2] Several days later, a close friend of Sampedro, Ramona Maneiro, was arrested and charged with assisting his suicide. Sampedro had divided the elements required to complete his suicide into individual tasks, each small enough that no single person could be convicted of assisting the suicide process entirely. Maneiro was released due to lack of evidence. No further charges were ever filed in connection with Sampedro'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 Sampedro's last words before he drank the poison and that she was in the room, behind the camera.

He left an open letter to the judges and the society and caused an ethical turmoil in the Spanish society which led to a Senatorial Committee on Euthanasia in 1999.

The story of Sampedro's life and death was made into a Spanish film, Mar adentro (2004), directed by Alejandro Amenábar,[3] in which he was portrayed by Javier Bardem.[4] The movie drew international attention and won the Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.[5]

Sampredo wrote a book before he died, titled Cartas desde el infierno.[6] It includes a collection of poems, short essays, and reflections on life from Sampedro’s point of view. After the release of Mar adentro, it was edited again.[7] As of 2005, the book was sold 100.000 times.[8]

Spanish singer-songwriter Andres Suarez wrote a song inspired by Sampedro's life, titled "Marinero," which was included in his 2007 album Maneras de romper una ola.

Further reading

  • Sampedro, Ramón (1996). Cartas desde el infierno [Letters From Hell] (in Spanish). Planeta. ISBN 84-08-05632-8.
  • Sampedro, Ramón (1998). Cando eu caia [When I Fall] (in Galician). Edicións Xerais. ISBN 8483022605.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Usher, Rod (January 26, 1998). "Live and Let Die". Time. 151 (4). Archived from the original on June 28, 2011.
  2. ↑ "A Suicide Tape on TV Inflames the Issue in Spain". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. March 9, 1998. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
  3. ↑ EP (June 4, 2003). "Amenábar llevará al cine la vida del tetrapléjico Ramón Sampedro". Diario de León (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  4. ↑ Agencias (June 3, 2003). "Javier Bardem interpretará al tetrapléjico Ramón Sampedro en la próxima película de Amenabar". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  5. ↑ Agencias (February 28, 2005). "'Mar adentro' consigue el Oscar a la Mejor Película de habla no inglesa". El País (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  6. ↑ "La resurrección literaria del gallego Ramón Sampedro". El Mundo (in Spanish). Madrid: Mundinteractivos, S.A. October 1, 2004. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  7. ↑ "El libro de Ramón Sampedro «Cartas desde el infierno» vuelve a editarse". ABC (in Spanish). September 29, 2004. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  8. ↑ M. L. (January 19, 2005). "«Cartas desde el infierno», de Ramón Sampedro, supera los 100.000 ejemplares vendidos". La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Madrid. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
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