Alex Trelinski
A PARAPLEGIC woman, 24, has told a Barcelona court during a landmark case that she wants a dignified death under Spain’s euthanasia laws.
It’s the first time that a court in the country has taken testimony in a challenge to somebody ending their life under the 2021 law.
Noelia reaffirmed her desire to die after her father- supported by the Christian Lawyers group- took her to court last summer, three days before the process was due to start.
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The hearing was held this week behind closed doors to protect her privacy.
She had the backing of an expert committee that sifts through euthanasia requests, but a court order issued on August 1 stopped her from going through with it.
“I want to finish with dignity once and for all,” Noelia told the court on Tuesday.
She claimed to have been ‘coerced’ by religious groups and said people had filled a room in the Sant Pere de Ribes care centre where she lived with ‘small pictures, crosses and religious symbols’.
Noelia was admitted to the facility as a result of a spinal cord injury caused by a failed attempt to take her life in 2022.
Her father argued that she has a personality disorder which affects her judgement and that she has responded well to rehabilitation.
His lawyer also claimed she had changed her mind several time about undergoing euthanasia.
A dozen witnesses have also appeared in the hearing- mainly doctors who have treated Noelia in recent years.
All of them supported her right to euthanasia because they stated she had the mental capacity to make a free decision and met all the standards laid down by Spain’s euthanasia law.
The court ruling is expected in the next few days but the matter is unlikely to end there.
The Christian Lawyers group says it will appeal to the Catalunya High Court if the verdict goes against them, and if necessary to the Supreme Court, and still further to the European courts.
