On 19 March 2021, Florencia Salgueiro wrote a social-media thread on X (then still known as Twitter) to tell the story of her father, Pablo Salgueiro. The first of 21 posts started: \u2018One year ago my father died, at the age of 57, three years after falling ill with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). What he went through, no one deserves\u2019 (translated from the Spanish, as all other quotes). Florencia went on to explain that ALS is a neurodegenerative disease without any known cure, in which one loses the ability to move, speak, eat, and finally breathe \u2013 while remaining lucid. Although causes are not well understood, she added that her father\u2019s case was hereditary, as both her grandfather and her uncle had also died from ALS. Her fourth post summarized the helplessness of the diagnosis: \u2018Imagine being told one day that you will spend the next 2 to 5 years slowly losing all your abilities until you die, without being able to do anything about it\u2019. Florencia underscored that her father desired to live, so much so that he built a house after becoming ill and continued to work and enjoy life as long as he could. After stages of denial and alternative therapies, came the gradual losses, which Florencia reported as a poem: \u2018He could no longer drive \/ walk without a cane or walker \/ cook \/ brush his teeth \/ dress himself \/ write \/ speak clearly \/ sleep without a ventilator\u2019. In January 2020, her father started receiving palliative care and, in February, expressed he wished to die by stating: \u2018This isn\u2019t life. I don\u2019t want to live anymore.\u2019 Thus began what Florencia described as an odyssey to get her father palliative sedation for existential suffering \u2013 something she believed was legal, moral, and appropriate, since Pablo could no longer be free from pain, anguish, depression, and anxiety, whether awake or asleep. However, the carers informed that palliative sedation would only be given when symptoms became refractory, which \u2013 as Florencia interpreted \u2013 meant they \u2018had to wait until Pablo choked on his own saliva to ease his suffering\u2019. A few weeks later, after a psychiatrist attested to Pablo\u2019s existential suffering, he received sedation \u2013 but Florencia\u2019s 17th post qualifies those weeks as \u2018torture\u2019. Pablo died on 19 March 2020, a few days after the first euthanasia bill was proposed in Uruguay.<\/p>
The political context becomes evident in Florencia\u2019s 19th entry, which quotes one of her previous posts: \u2018I can\u2019t put into words how much it would mean to me if such a law passed. I was moved to tears thinking a law like this could soon exist in Uruguay\u2019. Florencia publicly thanked the proponent of the bill, Representative Ope Pasquet, who also joined the thread \u2013 which, by that point, had become a public forum. Debuted in 2006, Twitter became popular for its 140-character-max posts (then called \u2018tweets\u2019), a constraint that was seen as a driver of innovation (in 2011, the linguist Ben Zimmer compared the impulse to tweet to that of writing a sonnet). In 2017, the platform doubled its character limit to 280 and launched the threads function, so users could create an organized vertical chain of tweets to tell a story. Linear at first, Florencia\u2019s thread was spun over the course of one hour, as she kept adding posts every few minutes. Yet, it also grew like an interactive rhizome as people started leaving comments, which Florencia addressed, multiplying the conversations. For example, she left a compassionate note to a commenter who also had ALS, while she assertively challenged another\u2019s recommendation to read more about living with ALS under palliative care: \u2018My father had the best palliative care in the world and he wanted to die anyway. No extra care would have changed that situation.\u2019 Suddenly in the public eye, Florencia continued to share her experience through various platforms, inspiring overwhelmingly positive responses. Encapsulating the impact of Florencia\u2019s words on public opinion, Radiomundo<\/em> compiled online comments to an interview with her, including the reaction of a doctor who made a point of saying, \u2018I understand and empathize\u2019. Florencia\u2019s testimony, first published as the social-media thread, would eventually become part of the parliamentary records, informing the discussions that culminated in the approval of Uruguay\u2019s \u2018Ley de Muerte Digna\u2019 (Law of Dignified Death), on 24 October 2025.<\/p> Uruguay was the first country in Latin America to carry out a comprehensive euthanasia reform. The bill approved in 2025 (no. 20431) allows mentally capable adult citizens and permanent residents to request medical assistance to die, in case they suffer from an incurable and irreversible illness that causes unbearable pain. Although several Latin-American countries preceded Uruguay in efforts to advance the right-to-die, to date such initiatives have involved one or two but not all branches of government. Both Colombia and Ecuador decriminalized euthanasia (in 1997 and 2024, respectively) and subsequently regulated it through their Ministries of Health, but are yet to pass legislation. Cuba, on the other hand, incorporated the right to a \u2018dignified death\u2019 into a 2023 \u2018Public Health Law\u2019, but the Ministry of Health has postponed its application \u2013 and the courts have not yet decriminalized the procedure. Uruguay\u2019s pioneering reform dates back to 2009, when the right to refuse life-prolonging treatment (sometimes referred to as \u2018passive euthanasia\u2019) was recognized. The first law focusing on medical assistance in dying (aka \u2018active euthanasia\u2019) was introduced in 2020 by Pasquet and approved by the Chamber of Representatives in 2022; however, it stalled in the Senate and would only pass both chambers of Congress in 2025, following the election of President Orsi. Soon after Pasquet introduced the bill, social mobilization \u2013 both for and against euthanasia \u2013 ignited. The momentum generated by Florencia Salgueiro\u2019s thread led to her joining Empat\u00eda Uruguay<\/em> (Empathy Uruguay), which advocates for personal autonomy in end-of-life decisions. Speaking for the opposition in the media, the Professor of Philosophy Miguel Pastorino cofounded Prudencia Uruguay<\/em> (Prudence Uruguay) in 2020 \u2013 and since then, both directly and indirectly, debated Empat\u00eda Uruguay<\/em> (the two nonprofits shared their perspectives on the proposed bill before Parliament in 2022). Pastorino argues against what he sees as a hypertrophied liberty offered to patients who are conditioned by emotional pressures, which results in giving doctors too much power in ambiguous situations. His call for a palliative care that would exclude euthanasia has been supported by the Catholic Church of Montevideo<\/em>, whereas Empat\u00eda Uruguay<\/em> sees the distinction between palliative care and euthanasia as a false opposition, arguing instead for a continuum of possible options grounded in personal autonomy.<\/p>","cover":{"ratio":1.7189695550351287,"url":"https:\/\/assistedlab.ch\/media\/pages\/textual\/hace-un-ano-murio-mi-padre\/c9cde6a2ec-1782107956\/strudwick-1885-a_golden_thread-2410x-q90.jpg","caption":"John Melhuish Strudwick, detail from \u2018A Golden Thread\u2019, 1885"},"data":[{"title":"Title","value":"\u2018Hace un a\u00f1o muri\u00f3 mi padre\u2019 by Florencia Salgueiro"},{"title":"Author","value":"Florencia Salgueiro"},{"title":"Year","value":"2021"},{"title":"Language","value":"Spanish"},{"title":"Tags","value":"Constitutional Litigation \u2022 Intimate Portraits of Death \u2022 Existential Suffering \u2022 Social Media"},{"title":"Legislative context","value":"Law n. 20431 (Ley de Muerte Digna; Eutanasia), decriminalizing, codifying, and regulating euthanasia, 24 October 2025 (Uruguay)"},{"title":"Author of entry","value":"Carlos A. Pittella"},{"title":"Last updated","value":"16.07.2026 at 16:36"}],"toggles":[{"title":"Reviews","list":[{"text":"\u2018Sobre proyecto de ley para regular la eutanasia y el suicidio asistido\u2019 [audience reactions to Florencia Salgueiro\u2019s interview], Radiomundo En Perspectiva, 2 November 2021","link":"https:\/\/enperspectiva.uy\/la-audiencia-opina\/sobre-proyecto-de-ley-para-regular-la-eutanasia-y-el-suicidio-asistido\/","pathname":"enperspectiva.uy"}]},{"title":"Media citations","list":[{"text":"Karen A. Higgs, \u2018Uruguay lo vuelve a hacer: es el primero de Am\u00e9rica Latina en legalizar la eutanasia\u2019, Guru\u2019Guay, 2025","link":"https:\/\/www.guruguay.com\/es\/eutanasia-en-Uruguay\/","pathname":"guruguay.com"},{"text":"\u2018Si pudiese sostener un cuchillo, no les pedir\u00eda nada: el caso de Pablo Salgueiro, el hombre con ELA que se convirti\u00f3 en s\u00edmbolo de la ley de eutanasia aprobada en Uruguay\u2019, BBC News Mundo, 2025","link":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/mundo\/articles\/crexw7y830qo","pathname":"bbc.com"},{"text":"\u2018Se vota Ley de Eutanasia en parlamento uruguayo\u2019, Diario Red, 2025","link":"https:\/\/www.diario-red.com\/articulo\/america-latina\/vota-ley-eutanasia-parlamento-uruguayo\/20250814120000052550.html","pathname":"diario-red.com"},{"text":"\u2018Mi padre, completamente l\u00facido y despu\u00e9s de tres a\u00f1os de enfermedad, nos dijo: Lo que estoy atravesando ahora no es vida\u2026\u2019, VTV Uruguay, 2025","link":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/reel\/773026228536561\/","pathname":"facebook.com"},{"text":"\u2018Su padre muri\u00f3 de ELA y ella cuenta su historia para militar por la eutanasia\u2019, El Pa\u00eds Uruguay, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.elpais.com.uy\/vida-actual\/su-padre-murio-de-ela-y-ella-cuenta-su-historia-para-militar-por-la-eutanasia","pathname":"elpais.com.uy"},{"text":"\u2018La enfermedad terminal de su padre la hizo movilizarse a favor de la ley de eutanasia: No se est\u00e1 ejecutando a nadie, se est\u00e1 poniendo el centro en la persona que desea no sufrir m\u00e1s\u2019, Radiomundo En Perspectiva, 2001","link":"https:\/\/enperspectiva.uy\/home\/florencia-salgueiro-la-enfermedad-terminal-de-su-padre-que-pedia-poder-morir-la-hizo-militar-para-regularizar-la-eutanasia-no-se-esta-ejecutando-a-nadie-se-esta-poniendo-el-centro-en-la-persona\/","pathname":"enperspectiva.uy"}]},{"title":"Interest Group citations","list":[{"text":"\u2018Uruguay, primer pa\u00eds latinoamericano en aprobar la eutanasia\u2019, Derecho a Morir Dignamente (DMD), 2025","link":"https:\/\/derechoamorir.org\/2025\/11\/27\/uruguay-primer-pais-latinoamericano-en-aprobar-una-ley-de-la-eutanasia\/","pathname":"derechoamorir.org"},{"text":"\u2018Un libro imprescindible\u2019, Iglesia Cat\u00f3lica Montevideo, 2023","link":"https:\/\/icm.org.uy\/un-libro-imprescindible\/","pathname":"icm.org.uy"},{"text":"\u2018Prudencia Uruguay: aportes para el debate sobre la eutanasia en ese pa\u00eds\u2019, Centro de Bio\u00e9tica, Persona y Familia, 2022","link":"https:\/\/centrodebioetica.org\/site\/prudencia-uruguay-aportes-para-el-debate-sobre-la-eutanasia-en-ese-pais\/","pathname":"centrodebioetica.org"},{"text":"\u2018Aportes para el debate: Eutanasia y suicidio asistido\u2019, Prudencia Uruguay, 2022","link":"https:\/\/d3fdcb63-1b96-4252-8133-f84ded600118.filesusr.com\/ugd\/fb92b4_0f7c51ce3b9846f78549da25374e0e71.pdf","pathname":"d3fdcb63-1b96-4252-8133-f84ded600118.filesusr.com"},{"text":"Florencia Salgueiro, \u2018Testimonios\u2019, Empat\u00eda Uruguay, 2022","link":"https:\/\/www.empatia.uy\/testimonios.html","pathname":"empatia.uy"}]},{"title":"Legal and Paralegal citations","list":[{"text":"\u2018EMPAT\u00cdA UY. Desmintiendo mitos sobre eutanasia. Material Empat\u00eda Uruguay\u2019, Uruguayan Parliament case file 155563, 12 July 2022","link":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241115104159\/https:\/\/parlamento.gub.uy\/documentosyleyes\/ficha-asunto\/155563\/ficha_completa","pathname":"web.archive.org"},{"text":"\u2018EMPAT\u00cdA URUGUAY. Hace entrega en Comisi\u00f3n de material y testimonio de Florencia Salgueiro sobre la enfermedad de su padre\u2019, Uruguayan Parliament case file 151753, 14 July 2021","link":"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20241117133128\/https:\/\/parlamento.gub.uy\/documentosyleyes\/ficha-asunto\/151753\/ficha_completa","pathname":"web.archive.org"}]}]}