Spanish court suspends assisted killing of young woman with mental illness

Update 8/20/2024: A judge in Spain has agreed to halt the killing of a young woman at the request of the father.

According to Christian Daily Europe, the woman, who has severe mental illness and a disability from a spinal cord injury as the result of an attempt to harm herself, requested euthanasia and was approved. Her father requested courts to step in and stop her death and the case was sent to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia for review.

“Now, this court has referred the case to the Superior Court of Justice,” said María Riesco, Directora de Comunicación for La Fundación de Abogados Cristianos. “So, now we have to wait for a ruling on the case.”

The judge said, “I do not consider that there is a serious, chronic and disabling condition which, as the law describes, is the situation that refers to limitations that directly affect the physical autonomy and activities of daily living.”

8/12/2024: A court in Spain has ordered a delay in the assisted death of a young woman, after her father requested that the courts intervene because he says his daughter cannot “make decisions freely, consciously and in an informed manner” due to her mental capacity.

According to ACI Prensa, the father of the 23-year-old woman says that she has “mental disorders, which include suicidal ideation, paranoid ideas and bipolar disorder.” She also has “borderline personality disorder” as well as an “obsessive-compulsive” type of disorder. She currently has no use of her legs due to complications from a failed suicide attempt in 2022.

Despite these issues, she seemingly received initial clearance from doctors for assisted death. Though there is no report as to why she was approved for assisted death, the court case underscores one of the many problems that arises with legalized euthanasia and assisted suicide — the repeated attempts to eschew guidelines and the risk that vulnerable populations will abuse the law.

READ: Assisted suicide advocates capitalize on point-blank range murder of woman by her husband

In fighting for his daughter, the father is being represented by the Spanish Foundation of Christian Lawyers. One of the lawyers, Jose Maria Fernandez, said there are currently several similar cases in the courts, which he believes shows “that the Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia is being implemented in fraud of the law.” The law currently has guidelines which would exclude mental illness from eligibility, though assisted death supporters in the country are looking to change that, and the country is currently considering approving assisted death for people with mental illness.

Though legalized assisted death has only been in place since 2021, Spain has been lifting restrictions since that time to help more people legally access assisted death. In 2023, the law was changed to remove the conscience protections in place for pharmacists that allowed them to refuse to prepare lethal drugs for assisted death.

The young woman’s case has been forwarded to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia for review.

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