The story is true and it happened in Spain, in 2005, when Marcos Hourmann He was the first doctor convicted euthanasia in that country. The case had all kinds of repercussions and became I will celebrate my death, a documentary work which, after a Spanish tour, arrives at the Teatro Picadero in Buenos Aires. The services will be held on December 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18 in that room and the debate will reopen.
Hourmann, Argentine doctor graduated from the UBA and resident in Spain since 1989, participated in emergencies in a hospital in Tarragona up to Carmen, in March 2005. She was an 82-year-old patient, practically without hope. The diagnosis was the worst and Carmen’s suffering was immense. Both she and her family asked Hourmann to help end her life and he didn’t hesitate.
Bypassing all medical protocol, Hourmann injected Carmen with 50 mg of potassium chloride who died within minutes. So, she reported the case to the hospital, and that’s when his life changed completely.
At that point, Euthanasia was not legal in Spain which recently approved a favorable law on June 25, 2021, becoming the fifth country in the world to regulate this practice in cases of “serious and incurable disease or a serious, chronic and disabling condition”.
The hospital report
Therefore, despite having the support of Carmen’s family, the hospital sued Hourmann who faced the possibility of ten years in prisonaccused of murder. Eventually, he received a one-year sentence and subsequently moved to Britain. But after a while there is the newspaper the sun published the case and Hourmann was forced to flee the country.
The work that now stages his case, interpreted by himself, alternates the narration of the facts for which Hourmann was convicted, with episodes from his own life in his native Argentina. And in the end it is the public that pronounces the verdict.
“Before all this, euthanasia was not an issue that was raised in my house or that was discussed in itself. In my house we talked about everything, but not specifically about what we would do if someone became seriously ill or if if a decision had to be made, he created this guy,” says Hourmann, who recently arrived in Argentina.
The doctor clarifies that that life-changing episode was something specifically related prevent more suffering and despair to a person. “I’ve never been an activist for euthanasia, yes, I was and am an activist for life, above all. And that’s what led me to act that way and consequently, that night,” he explains.
“At least consciously it has never been a topic in my life, then with time and my parents’ illness, I became more aware of human suffering,” he clarifies.
The idea of doing a job
Years later, during an interview they had with him, the idea arose of putting the topic into public discussion and the job was completed.
“The idea didn’t come from me, but from a very famous TV show in Spain called saved. After an interview with their host, Jordi Evole, about what they called “the good death”, the director, Victor Morilla, who is the ideologue of all this, offered me to bring the story I told to a stage “, He says .
And he adds: “Here’s how, from there we worked to put the project together. He contacted Alberto San Juan, a well-known actor, who was the one who made the dramaturgy of what the text is today”.
I will celebrate my death (which has the subtitle He asked me and I did), He spent four years touring Spain and for Hourmann it meant a certain relief from the case which shocked society and upended his whole life. “It was wonderful, both in terms of understanding the story itself and the theme and the emotion it generates,” he says,
For Hourmann, this public response is more than positive. “I don’t remember a single day when I finished the performance disappointed or not satisfied with what was done. Me too It is a reflection of Spanish society to be in favor of an issue that worries you and much more when there was not yet a law”.
According to the doctor, people leave the function mobilized. “It really makes them think about the idea of the end of life and the general freedom within life. It’s always been a very positive experience.”
He currently continues to practice as a doctor.: For two years he has been the head of emergencies in a clinic in the city of Sabadell, in Barcelona. “I practice as a general cardiac surgeon and an emergency medical surgeon. And I work very hard, under difficult circumstances, as I do today in many places in the world because, unfortunately, there are few countries where doctors are privileged to feel good“.
With the conviction that no one can decide the suffering and pain of others, Hourmann keeps his vocation intact, and assures: “I have never stopped practicing the profession of doctor, neither before the judicial process nor during nor after. I continue to practice the medical profession, fortunately”.
I will celebrate my death will perform on Friday 9 December and Saturday 10 December at 10.00pm and Sunday 11 December at 8.30pm. And then, Friday December 16th and Saturday December 17th at 10pm and Sunday December 18th at 8:30pm at Teatro Picadero: Enrique Santos Discépolo 1857. Tickets: $3,500.
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Source: Clarin
