ALS patient Dániel Karsai, who fought until the end of his life for the approval of euthanasia, has died

Daniel Karsai died of ALS at the age of 47 condemned constitutional lawyer, who turned to the Strasbourg court to be able to end his life with dignity – his brother, Péter Karsai, shared the news FacebookSaturday. He said goodbye with these words:

“Dani left tonight. For more than 3 years, he fought bravely and with dignity against the invincible enemy ALS.
You’ll always be with me, with us, Bro’.”

Daniel Karsai on his Facebook page the last post was published two days ago. Here, the constitutional lawyer expresses his opinion on the case of Balázs Orbán. In the post, he wrote, among other things:

“And it is better to die free than to live as a slave. This could even be a symbol of the right to end-of-life decisions. I don’t want to be Putin’s slave or victim. When pain dominates everything, I want to leave with dignity and head held high, looking fate in the eye.”

Dàniel Karsai was diagnosed with ALS in August 2022. His condition deteriorated rapidly in the last months, at the end of March this year he was hospitalized due to pneumonia, from which he was later released forward, but in his last period he could not do anything by himself, he needed help for everything. He gave an interview to Telex in mid-May you barely understood what he was saying.

With his stance, Dániel Karsai brought euthanasia, a subject that has been considered taboo until now, into the public discourse, thus giving strength to those who, like him, suffer from disease incurable. Dániel Karsai prepared for what will happen if it is no longer worth it for the European Court of Human Rights to rule on his case. “Perhaps it is not us who will benefit from this case, but the martyrs.” – he said at a press conference last year. While he was still alive, he asked to be his brother without knowing that he would die carry on his case, in which the Strasbourg court ultimately ruled against him.

European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on 3 September Karsai refused to appeal also, so it was legally declared that the Hungarian state does not violate the human rights of the constitutional lawyer by not allowing him active euthanasia. After the birth, Karsai he told RTL: “I am very disappointed. I think the court made a stupid decision. “

The issue of euthanasia has entered the political scene

Daniel Karsai last year published in Septemberwhen she posted about her status on her Facebook page. Telex soon after appeared with him a longer interview in which he said: before his illness, he was a 90-kilogram man, physically fit, who regularly cycled 40-50 kilometers. In fact, in one year, his condition deteriorated to such an extent that in October 2023 he could not eat or swim on his own, and it was difficult to walk.

The essence of ALS, ie amyotrophic lateral sclerosis disease, is that the nerve cells that move the muscles atrophy, which eventually leads to complete paralysis. The disease is irreversible. The disease does not affect cognitive abilities.

In Hungary, people suffering from incurable diseases cannot decide about their lives, they can only refuse life-sustaining or life-saving treatments. If Karsai had gone to a country where euthanasia is legal, those he helped would have committed the crime of aiding and abetting suicide. Hungarian law punishes this with one to five years in prison.

The constitutional lawyer turned to the public because he wanted to ensure that those in a similar situation do not have to be in an undeserving and vulnerable position.

More and more people joined Karsai’s case as supporters, and some of his fellow patients, like himself, called for an end-of-life decision. given in Strasbourg. They are for Telex they said: Karsai’s stance gave them hope.

Karsai’s case also received support from the opposition parties. Together with Dániel Karsai and his brother, Momentum submitted two referendum questions last December has been submitted to the National Electoral Office. The questions focused on whether Hungarian voters would change the Penal Code so that people suffering from incurable diseases could choose euthanasia. The election committee is their request rejected. This was justified by the fact that the questions submitted are not about euthanasia, but about the regulation and crime rate of assisted suicide. In response to this, Dániel Karsai and his brother submitted a review request in the middle of February. But, in April, the Manor too rejected one of their referendum questions. According to their justification, “the right to life is an absolute right, so even the protection of human dignity cannot be violated.”

The representatives in the parliament at the end of February they argued on the issue of euthanasia. According to the parties on the left, a referendum should be held on euthanasia, and at least it should be possible not to be punished for helping with active euthanasia. March in the middle it is the Dialogue-Greens they submitted a proposal legalizing active euthanasia to Parliament.

The government did not support Karsai’s case

It soon became clear that the government was taking a different stance on the matter: last October they asked the court in Strasbourg declares that Daniel Karsai’s request is not allowed. Lajos Cosa nevertheless, a representative of Fidesz spoke up With Karsai on December 1, when the constitutional lawyer visited the Parliament as a guest of Momentum. Lajos Kósa told Telex that although he cannot support the Karsais case because of his personal conviction, the referendum is on his case. would support. Daniel Karsai in January he asked From the President of the Republic at the time, Katalin Novák, give a presidential pardon to those who help to eliminate himself.

At the end of March, it was also announced that there would be no parliamentary debate on euthanasia, following the Fidesz majority at the committee meeting on the matter vote down the campaign.

The representatives of the government have been emphasizing again that they sympathize with Dániel Karsai and his co-defendants, but they believe that this is a legal dispute. They argued that active euthanasia is not legal in most European Union countries and that protecting life is more important than anything else.