Noelia will receive euthanasia on Thursday after more than a year and a half of waiting.

BarcelonaThe 25-year-old woman who has been enduring a lengthy legal battle since August 2024, awaiting the right to a dignified death, will finally receive euthanasia this week. Noelia's request was suspended over a year and a half ago following a legal appeal by her father, represented by the ultraconservative Catholic group Advocats Cristians. After all this waiting, she will be euthanized this Thursday, as confirmed by judicial sources to ARA and explained by Noelia herself in an interview on Antena 3.

The decision was announced on the same day that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued its opinion on whether the assisted dying procedure should be halted. The ECHR rejected the request from the ultraconservative Catholic group to suspend the young woman's right to a dignified death. However, the European Court of Human Rights' decision was not essential to proceed with assisted dying because the judicial approval for Noelia's euthanasia was already firm, and the young woman also has the medical approval of all the professionals who have treated her. The ECHR's response, which came to light this Tuesday, implies that it is not necessary to wait for the court's final ruling to proceed with the assisted dying of the young woman, who is paraplegic as a result of a suicide attempt. However, Advocats Cristians (Christian Lawyers) asserts that it will continue the proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights to try to have it recognize an alleged violation of the father's right to effective judicial protection. In fact, in the ruling reported by Ser Catalunya and reviewed by ARA, the ECHR does not assess the substantive arguments of the case, but will do so at a later date. Legal sources indicate that the death of the affected woman will not end the proceedings, but that the court will still rule—although it may take some time—to determine whether there has been any human rights violations, as the ultraconservative Catholic group alleges.

Before reaching Strasbourg, there were attempts to stop Noelia's assisted suicide. They had already encountered a "no" from the Supreme Court. and the Constitutional Court, in addition to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) and from the Barcelona court that initially took charge of the caseThe Constitutional Court's rejection effectively ended the last attempt by Christian Lawyers within the Spanish legal system to stop Noelia's euthanasia.

The underlying legal debate that this case has brought to the forefront, and which also raises the case of Francesc, 54 years oldThe question is whether the family members of an adult patient of sound mind can intervene legally to stop a euthanasia procedure that already has medical approval. In Francisco's case, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether his father has the right to intervene in his decision.

Two more open cases

Nevertheless, the ultraconservative Catholic group has two other legal proceedings open in an attempt to halt Noelia's euthanasia, scheduled for Thursday, regardless of the ECHR's final ruling. In one of these proceedings, they have again sought a court order to temporarily suspend the assisted dying process. Specifically, they have filed a lawsuit against the doctor and the forensic pathologist who... They feigned disagreement to force the intervention of the plenary session of the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia. so that it could decide with greater certainty on the girl's euthanasia request.

In parallel, the group of lawyers has filed a complaint against several members of this Commission and also against the former Minister of Health, Josep Maria Argimon, whom they accuse of an alleged crime of malfeasance for supposedly having "links incompatible with the impartiality required" to be part of this commission. Specifically, they say, "being related to pro-euthanasia activist groups or to organizations interested in organ procurement."