Father fights daughter’s euthanasia bid in Spanish court

BARCELONA - A young paraplegic woman asked a Spanish court on March 4 to let her exercise her right to euthanasia against the wishes of her father, who says that she suffers from mental health problems.

Euthanasia was legalised in Spain in 2021, but this is the first time a case has reached a court for a judge to decide.

During the closed-door hearing in a Barcelona court, the 24-year-old woman, who has not been publicly identified, reiterated her request to die, judicial sources said.

She became a paraplegic after throwing herself from the fifth floor of a building in a suicide attempt in 2022, and officially requested euthanasia in April 2024.

The euthanasia board in the north-eastern region of Catalonia supported her request in July 2024, saying it was in accordance with the law, which stipulates that anyone of sound mind who is suffering from a “serious and incurable” illness or a “chronic and disabling” condition could request assistance to die.

The woman was to be euthanised on Aug 2, 2024, but the process was suspended at the last minute after her father filed a legal objection with the backing of the campaign group Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers).

The father argued that his daughter suffered from mental disorders that “could affect her ability to make a free and conscious decision”, according to the legal challenge he filed.

“We believe that the patient suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, accompanied by suicidal ideation and borderline personality disorder, which we believe is clouding her decision,” his lawyer Jose Maria Fernandez, a member of Christian Lawyers, told reporters after March 4’s hearing.

Several specialists who had backed the woman’s request told the court they believed she was capable of making the decision and met the criteria set by Spain’s euthanasia law.

The court will issue its decision after all parties have filed written arguments.

In a statement, the Right To Die With Dignity group accused “political forces” of trying to overturn the euthanasia law “through the courts”.

Spain was the fourth European nation to allow people to end their own lives in some circumstances.

A priority for Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s government, the law was drafted after public pressure generated by several high-profile cases, including that of Mr Ramon Sampedro, whose plight was immortalised in the Oscar-winning 2004 film, The Sea Inside.

Mr Ramon, a seaman, became a quadriplegic at age 25 in1968 after a diving accident. He spent the next 29 years fighting for his right to assisted dying. AFP