Noelia's euthanasia will remain on hold until the sentence is final.

BarcelonaThe eight months of legal proceedings that ultimately ruled in her favor were not enough for Noelia to invoke her right to a dignified death. She will still have to wait some time for euthanasia, which was scheduled to take place in August of last year, but was suspended due to the judicial intervention of her father, represented by the ultra-Catholic group Advocats Cristians. The same Barcelona court that ruled two months ago He ruled out stopping Noelia's euthanasia as her father requested, She has now clarified that in order to resume the assisted death procedure, she will have to wait for the final judgment.

The reason given by the judge in Barcelona case number 12 lies in the precautionary measures that were activated when this judicial procedure began. When the father asked the court to stop the euthanasia, the girl was due to receive it three days later, so the man asked the court to temporarily stop it. At that time, the judge accepted it because, without yet knowing the judgment, a contrary decision would have been irreversible.

This provisional suspension of euthanasia has been maintained throughout the months that the judicial procedure has lasted. It was the First trial in the entire state to decide whether a family member can intervene judicially to stop euthanasia of an adult and which already has the endorsement of the committee of experts in charge of evaluating applications for this benefit, the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia.

The judge's latest ruling decides to keep these precautionary measures in force until the sentence is final—the father has appealed it—despite the fact that the Generalitat's Legal Service had requested otherwise. Therefore, although the court gave the green light to Noelia's assisted death, she will now have to wait until the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) issues a final ruling on the case.

First case in the State

Noelia's case is the first case of assisted death in Spain to reach the courts. The ruling found that the father, advised by Advocats Cristians, lacked the legal standing to intercede in response to the request of the girl, an adult with full mental capacity to decide and understand her request.

The 24-year-old woman, paraplegic following a suicide attempt, already had the unanimous approval of the 19 members of the Catalan Guarantee and Evaluation Commission (CGAC) to receive euthanasia. At the trial, she reiterated her wishes, and all the specialists who treated her agreed that she has the mental capacity to make a free decision and that she meets the requirements established by law: constant physical and psychological suffering, described as intolerable, with no prognosis for improvement.