A young woman will testify in Spanish court today to convince the judge to voluntarily die from his father’s will in his first case of the same kind.
The 23-year-old woman, named Noelia, wants to end her life, which is paraplegic because she was injured while trying to commit suicide in 2022.
She received support from the Catalonian regional government after the local euthanasia assurance and assessment committee unanimously supported her decision in July 2024.
Euthanasia is the act of intentionally ending a person’s life to relieve pain. This may be involuntary – for example, if a person is in a coma and cannot give consent or voluntary consent, as in this case.
The woman was scheduled to die in August, but the process was suspended at the last minute due to legal objections raised by her father and supported by the campaign group Christian lawyer (Abogados Cristianos).
“I want to end dignity once and for all,” Noelia told the court Tuesday.
She claimed she was “forced” by religious groups and said people were in a room in a nursing center where she currently lives in “small pictures, crosses and religious symbols.”
The legal representative of the Catalan government in this case said: “No evidence of scientific or expert characteristics is provided to contradict many of the medical reports supporting the decision. [to die]. ”
However, the woman’s father argued that she suffered from a personality disorder that influenced her judgment, noting that “the state has an obligation to protect people’s lives, especially the most vulnerable, like a young person with mental health problems.”
He also said she responded well to rehabilitation treatment.
His legal representative also claimed that the young woman had changed her mind about euthanasia several times.
The prosecutor has not yet positioned the case, but instead calls on the judge to listen to the opinions of experts and women themselves before making a decision.
Among those who testified in the Barcelona court today, they are members of the Euthanasia Committee, which evaluated her case, neurological measures experts and psychiatrists.
Euthanasia law was introduced in Spain in 2021, but this is the first time a court judge’s ruling was filed.
Last year, a Barcelona magistrate judge rejected an attempt by a man to appeal the euthanasia of his 54-year-old son after obtaining approval from the Guarantee and Evaluation Board.
