The Prosecutor’s Office has appealed to the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) the decision of a Barcelona judge to allow the euthanasia of a man of 54 years who suffers motor sequelae from three strokes and two heart attacks and whose father had managed to provisionally suspend him.
As reported by legal sources, the public ministry has challenged the sentence handed down by contentious court number 5 of Barcelona, an appeal that will be opposed by the Generalitat Guarantee and Evaluation Commissionthe body that resolves euthanasia requests in Catalonia.
The court endorsed the resolution that allowed assisted death of man and rejected the appeal presented by his father, who managed to provisionally stop his son’s euthanasia citing mental health problems, understanding that he was not entitled to oppose the decision of an adult in full powerseven if it was his son, and that the family relationship is not enough to prevent it.
The man who requested euthanasia suffers significant consequences in movement and speech, derived from the three strokes and two heart attacks he suffered.
After recalling that the judge who handed down the sentence was based on the doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights, the Right to Die with Dignity association has warned that if the TSJC ends up vetoing euthanasia in this case, it will establish a dangerous precedent by opening the door for family members to prevent assisted death.
“It is evident that if the possibility of a family member appealing a favorable resolution of the Commission for the Guarantee and Evaluation of Euthanasia before the courts of justice (Litigation, Supreme, Constitutional, European Human Rights) is admitted, the right will become unviable to ask for and receive the assistance in dying recognized by law,” the association reasons in a statement.
For the entity, the function of the Prosecutor’s Office is to “promote the action of justice in defense of the rights of citizens”, so It is “scandalous that he requests to prevent the exercise of the right to the provision of aid in dying, after having completed a legal procedure, considered the most guaranteeing in the world”.
“Faced with this fundamental right, proposing that for procedural reasons (such as the concept of legitimacy of a family member) the will to die of a person who lives in a euthanasia context is not respected, is cruel and absolutely disproportionate“adds the statement.
In fact, in the appealed resolution the judge argued that the “right to family life” that the father invoked in his contentious administrative appeal does not represent a “legitimate interest” sufficient to challenge the Generalitat’s endorsement of euthanasia.
“If this were the case, any resolution could be challenged by the relatives of the person who asks for help to die with dignity, becoming an illusory and ineffective benefitor 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 an eminently personal decision that presents a strong component of self-determination of the person.”
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