A Barcelona court supports the euthanasia of a man against his father’s appeal

A court of Barcelona has endorsed euthanasia of a man, which his father had appealed, arguing that the family relationship is not sufficient to deny assisted death and that the parent is not entitled to oppose the decision of a fully empowered adult, even if it is his or her child.

In an order, the contentious court number 5 of Barcelona has inadmissible the appeal presented by a father against the endorsement of the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia of July 2024, which granted his adult son the right to assistance in dying with dignity.

The judge, in the resolution, argues that the “right to family life” invoked by the father in his contentious-administrative appeal does not represent a “legitimate interest” to challenge the decision of the aforementioned commission:

“If it were so, Any resolution could be challenged by the relatives of the person asking for help to die with dignity.becoming an illusory and ineffective benefit, or at least with delayed effectiveness over time. And this is not the legal provision,” the judge emphasizes in her order, which is not final and against which an appeal can be filed within a period of 15 days.

For the judge, “we are facing a eminently personal decision and that it presents a strong component of self-determination of the person.” In addition, the magistrate emphasizes in her order that this is a person “of legal age and capable of freely exercising all the rights that the laws recognize”, as is that of dying with dignity.

After this man received medical approval for euthanasia, his father appealed to the contentious court, taking advantage of the family relationship and allegingamong other reasons, that your child has mental health problemsso “he is not in a position” to make a decision such as requesting euthanasia, an extreme that the doctors as well as the magistrate ruled out, based on the reports. The judge also emphasizes in her order the lack of relationship between this father and his sonwho also requested that no close family member be notified of his decision to opt for euthanasia.