Terminally Ill Man Meets Government After Losing Right-To-Die Case In Hungary
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – A terminally ill Hungarian lawyer who lost his right-to-die case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has met Hungary’s government, which refused to allow active euthanasia.
Dániel Karsai, who since July 2021 suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable nervous system disease, said the president and a key minister had visited him.
Minister Gergely Gulyás wished the terminally ill man well.
“When Gulyás visited me, we had a meaningful conversation about introducing the right to end-of-life decisions,” Karsai said.
Hungary’s President Tamás Sulyok also met the lawyer, who believes that “a higher entity created us.”
Karsai, 47, said he had recently pondered whether “creation would not be complete without free will. If we cannot do both good and evil, there would be no point in existence”. He has been seeking a debate on this issue, including with Hungarian church leaders.
News about his meeting with Hungary’s government came after the Strasbourg-based ECHR ruled on June 13 that Hungary’s legal framework, which bans assistance in ending one’s life—including traveling to a country where assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal—does not violate the Convention on Human Rights.
ASKING PARDON
“I asked President Sulyok to pardon me, but he refused,” Karsai said in published remarks.
Yet the Court emphasized that the Convention should be interpreted and applied “in light of contemporary conditions,” suggesting a debate on the issue, including in Hungary.
However, the ECHR also underscored the importance of “high-quality palliative care, including access to effective pain management, to ensure a dignified end of life.”
It was a legal setback for Karsai, who was ranked among Hungary’s 100 best lawyers and once described as an active athlete, hiker, and soccer player who also practiced jujutsu for eleven years.
He recalled that he noticed the first symptoms of ALS in July 2021.
Now unable to walk, eat, or care for himself without assistance, Karsai explained that he anticipated becoming completely paralyzed.
Karsay said, like “the legendary late physicist Stephen Hawking, who also suffered from this disease,” he realized that ALS does not impact his mental capabilities. “It may mean that I suffocate.”
BODY TRAPPED
“I will be trapped in my own body while fully conscious,” he said, expressing his desire for medical assistance to die.
His brother, Péter Karsai, said the constitutional lawyer “definitely wants to avoid being put on a ventilator.”
Five EU countries allow active euthanasia
The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, and Portugal permit active euthanasia.
In France, neither euthanasia nor assisted suicide is allowed by law.
Changing this law was one of President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promises and was intended to be a significant societal reform of his second term.
However, several Christian groups have expressed concerns that active euthanasia could lead to a culture of death and stress the importance of loving care for patients.
Hungary’s right-wing government says it is rooted in the Christian faith that every life is valuable starting from conception, which is included in Hungary’s new constitution.
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