First trial to stop euthanasia: an ultra-Catholic group takes the dignified death of a young woman to court

BarcelonaThe right to a dignified death is in the hands of the courts for the first time. This Tuesday in Barcelona there will be a trial unprecedented in the whole State: the euthanasia of Noelia, a 23-year-old paraplegic girl, has the backing of the committee of experts in charge of assessing requests for this procedure, but it has been on hold since August 1 by court order. Her father, advised by the Christian Lawyers group, took the endorsement of his daughter's euthanasia to the courts, and the process has been paralyzed since then awaiting the final judicial decision.

This Wednesday a dozen witnesses will appear in the 12th contentious court of Barcelona, almost all doctors from different specialties who have treated the young woman in recent years. She will also have to testify, at the request of the Prosecutor's Office and despite the fact that the Generalitat did not want it. The hearing will be held behind closed doors, a decision that has been taken with the intention of protecting the young woman's privacy and which will also mean restricting the access of journalists to report on the hearing.

Can the family intervene?

The fundamental debate that must be resolved with this case answers a question that was not foreseen by the euthanasia law of 2021: is the family of an adult person who has requested euthanasia entitled to prevent it by going to court?

In November, In an identical case that was resolved in another court through an order, another court ruled that a man was not entitled to intervene in response to his son's request for euthanasia. Both that ruling and the one arising from Tuesday's hearing could end up in the hands of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) if any of those involved appeal against it.

Eight months of waiting

In the event that the case is decided on Wednesday, Noelia expressed her desire to accept assisted death before a notary, and the forensic experts have confirmed that she is capable of deciding about her life. Her request was approved by the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia, the body made up of doctors, lawyers, nurses, social workers and psychologists and which is responsible for studying and validating or rejecting requests for euthanasia in Catalonia. The girl's father opened the way to the courts with a lawsuit against this body.

The arguments presented by the lawyer from Abogados Cristianos who represents the father are based on the fact that the daughter's psychiatric history invalidates her desire to request assisted death. This perspective will be contrasted with the arguments of the Generalitat, which defends the decision of the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission and its decision in July 2024 to validate, by unanimous vote of the 19 members, the euthanasia of the young woman. The girl has therefore been waiting for assisted death for almost eight months.

"Overturning" the law in court

In light of the court date, the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity has questioned "whether the law that certain political forces were unable to stop in Congress is now to be annulled by the courts," and warns that this could be an "abuse of rights, as it could be equivalent to fraudulently obstructing" the application of a law.

They also stressed the suffering that the judicialisation of these requests can cause for people who have already been approved for euthanasia, a mechanism that they consider should be limited to "very exceptional cases." They also recalled that before a request for euthanasia is approved, the approval of different doctors is necessary through the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia.