Healthcare Advocacy Group Praises Actor Mauricio Ochmann for Breaking Records in Film about Child Who Goes Blind, Ya Veremos (We’ll See)

Hollywood Actor Successfully Urged Latinos to Help Pass California’s Medical Aid-In-Dying Law

Aug 27, 2018 Latino Leadership Council Mauricio Ochmann

A leading healthcare advocacy group, Compassion & Choices, today praised Hollywood actor Mauricio Ochmann for his record-breaking movie about a child dealing with the separation of his parents when he is told he is going blind. The movie, Ya Veremos (We’ll See), which earlier this month had the second-biggest opening weekend ever for a Mexican film in its home market, will be released in U.S. theaters on Labor Day weekend.

Ochmann is a member of Compassion & Choices’ Latino Leadership Council, a group of leaders who help guide outreach to engage Hispanics in the United States, including Puerto Rico, to advocate for laws to expand healthcare options at the end of life. The Council is an extension of Compassion & Choices’ successful outreach to communities of color that was key to winning campaigns to pass laws allowing terminally ill adults to have the option of medical aid in dying to peacefully end unbearable suffering. They include laws in California in 2015, and Colorado and the District of Columbia in 2016. Mauricio will be featured in the Fall 2018 issue of Compassion & Choices Magazine. To view, click: HERE.

“Mauricio’s voice has brought comfort and relief for Latinos suffering at the end of life, knowing that in eight U.S. jurisdictions they now have the option to take medication to die peacefully,“ said Kim Callinan, Compassion & Choices Chief Executive Officer. “Through his leadership, he has strengthened public support for end-of-life choice and inspired dying Latinos like the late Miguel Carrasquillo to join the cause.”

In addition to California, Colorado and the District of Columbia, medical aid in dying has been authorized in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Vermont and Hawai‘i.

Directed by Pitipol Ybarra, Ya Veremos’ release follows Mauricio’s recent meeting with Matt Fairchild, a terminally ill Burbank resident, to demonstrate his support for Matt’s legal right under California law to have the option of medical aid-in-dying.

In 2014, Mauricio became the first Hollywood celebrity to publicly endorse Compassion & Choices’ campaign to pass medical aid-in-dying legislation in California, at a time when many Latinos were reluctant to discuss end-of-life care issues. He was joined by civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and civil rights activist, actor and director Edward James Olmos. Mauricio recorded YouTube videos in support of medical aid in dying:

“I’ve told my family, the people I love and the people that love me, my friends, everybody, that in my death if I get ... a terminal disease or something and I'm having a terrible time ... I want out,” Ochmann says in the English language version of the video. “It's my decision. I don’t want to suffer.”

Success is nothing new for Mauricio. In 2017, the film Hazlo Como Hombre (Do It Like  Man) directed by Ybarra became the highest-grossing Mexican movie at the local box office. Mauricio also broke records with Telemundo’s top hit show El Chema (nickname for “Jose Maria”) and the popular Telemundo series El Señor De Los Cielos (The Lord of the Skies). Mauricio previously starred in Ybarra’s 2015 Mexican box office hit A La Mala (In a Bad Way.)

“Mauricio’s compassion for dying Latinos always keeps him grounded,” said Patricia A. González-Portillo, National Latino Communications & Constituency Director at Compassion & Choices. “There is never a time that Mauricio is ever ‘too busy’ to advocate for mentally capable, terminally ill Latinos with six months or fewer to live to have the option of medical aid in dying to peacefully end unbearable suffering.”