Spain court rules: Families can challenge euthanasia approvals.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Noelia Castillo

An article by Alex Trelinski that was published by The Olive Press in Spain reported that on June 24, 2026 the Spanish Supreme Court ruled that families can legally challenge a euthanasia approval.

Trelinski reported that following the euthanasia death of Noelia Castillo, 25 that the Supreme Court decided with a 23 to 9 vote that parents can challenge a euthanasia approval of a family member. The report stated that:

In its ruling, the Supreme Court specifies that those who appeal the granting of euthanasia must be part of the applicant’s closest living circle.

They must possess, according to the ruling, ‘a sufficient capacity for knowledge and empathy with them to be able, if necessary, to detect possible flaws in the understanding and comprehension of the situation in which the applicant finds themselves’.

The court says they can challenge a decision when they demonstrate a special affective closeness with the person requesting euthanasia and provide a reasonable indication of proof over a possible breach of legal guarantees.

The Spanish Supreme Court has enabled some effective oversight of the law, as close family members will have the insight and relationship to question decisions by doctors when the approve the killing of a close family member.

The Spanish Supreme Court decision grants rights to Spanish family members that does not exist in Canada.

In September 2020 a Taryn Grant reported for CBC News Nova Scotia that a man who has received conflicting assessments for MAiD (euthanasia) and whose wife of 48 years says is delusional about his medical condition, can go ahead and die by euthanasia. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition (EPC) enabled the plaintiff (wife) to challenge her husband's euthanasia approval. Grant reported:

A Nova Scotia Court of Appeal judge has upheld a lower court decision that effectively allows a man to go ahead with a medically assisted death, in spite of his wife's efforts to stop him.

The 83-year-old man from Bridgewater, N.S., was assessed by physicians and approved for medical assistance in dying (MAID) earlier this year, but his wife, Katherine, 82, filed for an injunction with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, forcing him to cancel his plans.

In early 2024 there was a case in Calgary AB concerning a 27-year-old autistic woman who lived with her family and had been approved for death by euthanasia. Her father challenged the approval to kill his daughter and claimed that, based on the law, she does not qualify to be killed by euthanasia.

CBC News reported on March 12, 2024 on the Calgary court case that the father stated that his daughter did not have a medical condition that qualified, under the law, and yet his daughter had already been approved for death by lethal poison.

CBC News reporter, Meghan Grant reported on March 25, 2024 that Justice Feasby ruled that the 27-year-old daughter can die by euthanasia despite her father's concerns. Justice Feasby withdrew the temporary injunction that prevented the woman from dying by euthanasia but maintained a 30 day stay of the injunction, which gave the father time to appeal the decision.

On April 2, 2024, Kevin Martin reported for the Calgary Herald that the father of the 27-year-old autistic woman appealed the decision to the Alberta Court of Appeal.

On April 8, Justice Anne Kirker ordered a stay on the injunction to prevent the death of the 27-year-old autistic woman until after the appeal was heard. The date of the appeal is not known but will likely be heard in October.

The EPC sought and received intervention standing in the case, but the appeal was never heard.

The EPC has been contacted by many family members who are concerned about the euthanasia approval or death of a loved one. Currently there is no legal precedent in Canada t0 enable families members to challenge a euthanasia death approval.

It is only just to enable close family members to challenge a approvals for euthanasia based on a clear understanding of that person's physical and mental health.

Spanish woman (25) who became paralyzed after a suicide attempt is killed by euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Noelia Castillo

I am saddened by the death of Noelia Castillo (25) who was killed by euthanasia on March 27. Some reports stated that organ procurement followed her death.

Castillo was approved for euthanasia in July 2024 based on partial paraplegia that was caused by her suicide attempt in October 2022. Castillo stated that her suicide attempt was related to being sexually assaulted.

Castillo was also diagnosed with significant psychiatric issues. Christian Caraballo reported for Euronews that:

Psychiatric reports indicate that the young woman has chronic depressive symptoms and an adjustment disorder with anxiety and depression, but rule out a major depressive disorder that would impair her decision-making capacity. She has also been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder.

The father of Noelia Castillo challenged the euthanasia approval all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights.

Noelia Castillo was originally scheduled to be killed by euthanasia on August 2 but a judge suspended the death until a higher court could hear the case after her father challenged her approval for euthanasia.

On August 8, 2024, I reported that the father of a 23 year-old Spanish woman, (Noelia Castillo) challenged in court the approval of euthanasia for his daughter. The father argued in court that his daughter, who was living with partial paralysis, lacked the capacity to decide to be killed by euthanasia. Castillo became paralyzed after a suicide attempt.

On March 17, 2025 I reported that a Spanish court rejected an appeal by the father of Castillo his 24-year-old paraplegic daughter, who had been approved to be killed by euthanasia. An article published by Agence France-Presse reported that:

The father argued that his daughter suffered from mental disorders that "could affect her ability to make a free and conscious decision" as required by law.

He also said there were indications his daughter had changed her mind and that her ailment did not entail "unbearable physical or psychological suffering".

The article reported that the court decision decided that the woman met the conditions for euthanasia, which was legalised in the European country in 2021.

Laia Galiá reported for the Spanish ARA news on April 3, 2025 that a second challenge to a euthanasia approval would be heard by a Spanish Court. Galiá reported that the first decision was appealed by the Prosecutor's Office and Castillo's father. The case was referred to the High Court of Justice (TSJC)

On February 20, 2026 Reuters reported that Noelia Castillo who become disabled after an attempted suicide has been once again approved to be killed by euthanasia after Spain's Constitutional Court rejected the appeal by Castillo's father.

The case was then referred to the European Court of Human Rights who rejected the appeal on March 10, 2026.

The human rights of people with disabilities are on the line. People with disabilities who are living with suicidal ideation can be killed by lethal poison based on being disabled. 

Castillo needed time and encouragement to accept the value of living with a disability.

A study published by Nature.com found that:

Individuals with Spinal Cord Injury SCI are at risk of attempting suicide; this risk is increased by the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis. There is a crucial need for risk assessment and psychological intervention for individuals with mental health issues following SCI.The Spanish euthanasia law is similar to the Canadian euthanasia law since it only requires that a person has "a serious chronic and disabling illness."

Euthanasia is not a treatment for people experiencing suicidal ideation, but rather supportive and life-affirming programs. Euthanasia was not a form of freedom for Noelia Castillo but was and abandoned to death.

The Spanish euthanasia law is similar to Canada's law which allows people with mental illness to be killed, if they have another health condition. People with disabilities who are live with mental illness are not protected from euthanasia, even when they have suicidal ideation.

Spanish court approves euthanasia for a woman who became disabled after surviving a suicide.

Father attempted to prevent the euthanasia death of his daughter based on her mental health.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director,
Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Reuters reported on February 20, 2026 that a woman who become disabled after an attempted suicide has been approved to be killed by euthanasia. The Reuters report states:

According to legal rulings, the woman, who is suffering from a psychiatric illness, attempted suicide several times by overdosing on medication before jumping from a fifth‑floor window in October 2022, an act that left her paraplegic and in chronic pain.

 

In July 2024, a specialised expert committee in her region, Catalonia, approved her request for euthanasia. The procedure was scheduled for August 2, 2024, but her father has blocked it ever since.

On Friday 20 February, Spain’s Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by her father to prevent the woman from ending her life by euthanasia.

The case will likely be referred to the European Court of Human Rights.

This case will determine if a person who needs treatment for mental health and suicidal ideation can be approved to be killed by euthanasia.

The woman qualified for euthanasia based on her physical disability. The Spanish law does not require the person to have a terminal diagnosis. Nonetheless, she became disabled from her attempted suicide that her father has argued was based on her mental health issues. 

Spanish euthanasia deaths increased by almost 30% in 2024.

The Spanish euthanasia report that was published in December 2025 indicated that 426 people were killed by euthanasia in Spain in 2024, a 27.5% increase from 334 people in 2023.

The total number of people who have been poisoned to death by euthanasia increased by almost 48% since 2022, the first full year after legalization.

Euthanasia is an act whereby a person who is deemed eligible is intentionally poisoned to death by a medical practitioner.

More articles on this topic:

• Spanish euthanasia deaths increase by 27.5% (Read). 
• Spanish courts will consider a second case challenging a euthanasia approval (Read).

Spanish 2024 euthanasia deaths increase by 27.5%

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Spanish euthanasia report was published in December 2025 indicates that 426 people were killed by euthanasia in Spain in 2024, a 27.5% increase from 334 people who were killed by euthanasia in 2023. 

The total number of people who have been poisoned to death by euthanasia has increased by almost 48% since 2022, the first full year after its legalization.

Euthanasia was legalized in Spain in March 2021. Euthanasia is an act whereby a person who is deemed eligible is intentionally poisoned to death by a medical practitioner.

Unlike in some jurisdictions, there is no requirement for a six or twelve-month terminal prognosis eligibility for euthanasia in Spain. 

In 2024, the most underlying medical condition for those who applied for an assisted death was: 302 people had a neurological condition, 276 people had a form of cancer, with conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory issues, making up the remainder.

Spain has an appeal process for when the medical practitioner decides that a person doesn't qualify for euthanasia. In 2023,188 people whose request to be killed by euthanasia was denied, 78 of those people appealed the decision with 32 cases (41%) overturning the decision and allowing them to be killed. In 2024, 157 people who requested to be killed by euthanasia were denied with 75 of those people appealing the decision resulting in 20 (26.67%) of the decisions being overturned allowing them to be killed by euthanasia.

Spain has already expanded the original euthanasia law and they have discussed expanding the law to include people with mental illness. An article published by Exaudi news stated:

The Ministry of Health has met with the autonomous communities to agree on the reform of the Manual of Good Practices on Euthanasia to include mental illness as a reason for requesting it.

The draft of the Organic Law on the Regulation of Euthanasia (LORE) indicates that euthanasia “does not exclude mental illness, allowing people with an unbearable suffering due to the presence of a mental illness to request the Aid to Dying Benefit (PAM) on equal terms with those whose suffering comes from a somatic illness”.

In addition, the text states that “a comprehensive psychopathological evaluation is required to identify those people who could benefit from the PAM due to a mental disorder due to the presence of a serious, chronic and disabling illness or a serious and incurable psychiatric illness”.

Likewise, it is necessary to “discard those people who present mild or moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety, since these conditions are susceptible to treatment and improvement, excluding them from access to PAM.”

Exaudi listed some expansions of the Spanish euthanasia law that have already happened:

Since 2023 three modifications were already proposed:

1. To stop protecting the pharmacist’s right to object to euthanasia in the event that the master formulation or the preparation of drug kits is necessary to administer euthanasia, and to reserve the objection to the health personnel directly involved in that practice.

2. To create the figure of the reference nurse in euthanasia, since in most cases the nurse is in charge of supplying the medication to the patient.

3. To establish the nature of the Manual of Good Practices of Euthanasia, because for some experts it is a standard, but for others it is not.

Similar to nearly every jurisdiction, once euthanasia and/or assisted suicide are legalized the laws will soon be expanded. The original legislation is designed to pass in the legislature, but once legal the arguments immediately arise that the law is being applied in a discriminatory manner and must be expanded. Spain has had the same phenomenon.

Spanish courts will consider a second case challenging euthanasia approval.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Laia Galiá reported for the Spanish ARA news on April 3, 2025 that a second challenge to a euthanasia approval will be heard by a Spanish Court.

On March 17, 2025 I reported that a Spanish court rejected an appeal by a father to prevent the euthanasia death of his 24-year-old paraplegic daughter. The article reported that the woman, known as Noelia, who was injured in a suicide attempt, was scheduled to die by euthanasia in August 2024 when her father achieved a court injunction to prevent the death. The March 17 decision stated that the woman met the conditions for euthanasia.

Galiá reported that the first decision (Noelia) has been appealed by the Prosecutor's Office and her father. The case has been referred to the High Court of Justice (TSJC)

In the second case (Francisco case) the Judge has determined that the family has the right to challenge the euthanasia approval. Galiá reported:

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) has issued its first ruling in the legal debate that in recent months has called into question the right to assisted dying. In the opinion of Catalonia's highest court, a patient's family may be entitled to bring a euthanasia procedure to court even if the applicant already has the approval of the committee of experts charged with studying and validating or rejecting these requests.

Unlike the first case, in the Francisco case it has only been determined that the father can challenge the euthanasia approval whereas in Noelia's case, a judge already decided that she met the requirements of the law. Galiá reported:

In contrast, in Francisco's case, the judge has so far only assessed the father's legitimacy to intercede, and the High Court of Justice (TSJC) is ordering her to assess all the evidence. In fact, the judges point out that their ruling does not imply that the family's requests must be accepted. They only rule, they say, on the parents' legitimacy to intervene judicially to request a halt to a euthanasia procedure.

The Spanish euthanasia law is similar to the Canadian euthanasia law since it only requires that a person has "a serious chronic and disabling illness."

Spain's euthanasia law should be challenged based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Spain court refuses to prevent young woman's euthansia death.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Agence France-Presse reported on March 17 that a Spanish court rejected an appeal by a father who tried to stop his 24-year-old paraplegic daughter's euthanasia death.

Decisions, like this one, emphasize how the euthanasia laws undermine the lives of people with disabilities.

According to the article, the 24-year-old woman, who was injured in a suicide attempt, was scheduled to die by euthanasia in August 2024 when her father achieved a court injunction to prevent the death. The article stated that:

The father argued that his daughter suffered from mental disorders that "could affect her ability to make a free and conscious decision" as required by law.

He also said there were indications his daughter had changed her mind and that her ailment did not entail "unbearable physical or psychological suffering".

The article reported that the court decision that was decided on Friday but released on Monday (March 17) stated:

the woman met the conditions for euthanasia, which was legalised in the European country in 2021.

"All the professionals who have intervened in the process agree that... she suffers a serious, chronic and disabling illness, without any contradictory tests having been performed," the judge wrote.

The Spanish euthanasia law is similar to the Canadian euthanasia law since it only requires that a person has "a serious chronic and disabling illness."

Spains euthanasia law should be challenged based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Euthanasia Turning Suicidal People into ‘Kill and Harvest’ Natural Resource

This article was published by National Review online on December 13, 2024.

By Wesley J Smith

In the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and Canada, people who want euthanasia can become organ donors. (A recent report in Spain showed that 13 percent of those euthanized donated organs.) Let’s call it “kill and harvest,” a policy heartily approved by our ever more crassly utilitarian medical establishment.

Indeed, a recent study in JAMA Surgery applauds procuring the kidneys of the euthanized because, after five years, the organs of those killed by doctors and then transplanted have worked well — even better than kidneys donated by people after brain death. From the conclusion of the study, which discusses donation after circulatory death from euthanasia (DCD-V):

This study found that DCD-V kidney transplantation yielded a lower incidence of DGF [delayed graft function] compared with DCD-III kidney transplantation [controlled circulatory death after removing life support] and yielded long-term results similar to those of DCD-III and DBD [donation after brain death] kidney transplantation. The findings suggest that DCD-V is a safe and valuable way to increase the kidney donor pool.

Yes, DCD-V, or kill and harvest, is now its own category in organ-transplant medicine.

This is so disheartening.

Allowing kill and harvest represents to me a collapse in organ-transplant ethics. The dead-donor rule is supposed to prevent people from being killed for their organs. Letting suicidal people who qualify for euthanasia know that they can become organ donors comes perilously close to doing precisely that, and in some cases, donating has been a factor in choosing when to be euthanized. Among the serious problems of this approach: 

• People who ask for euthanasia almost never receive suicide-prevention services, and instead, may be contacted by organ-donation organizations asking for their organs. This is a profound failure of true compassion and a form of abandonment, particularly since the ability to donate could become the tipping point on wanting to become dead.
• Perceiving the suicidal who want euthanasia as organ donors can lead to their objectification because obtaining or donating the organs can become the paramount consideration rather than their personal well-being.
• Many, perhaps most, of those killed and harvested are not terminally ill. Some of the mentally ill euthanized in the Netherlands and Belgium (and soon, in Canada) are mentally ill but physically healthy. In other words, the only reason they are dead is they were subjected to voluntary homicide.
• Hospitals are turned into killing centers because the euthanasia followed by harvesting must usually take place in a hospital adjacent to the surgical suite where the organs will be procured.
  

Where will this go next? Well, why not live harvesting as the means of euthanasia? After all, the patient wants to die and this could lead to even more viable organs! And don’t call me an alarmist. Killing by organ harvesting is already being discussed in organ-transplant medicine and bioethics journals.

Spanish judge prevents euthanasia of 23-year-old woman.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On August 8 I reported that the father of a 23 year-old woman, in Spain, has challenged in court the approval of euthanasia for his daughter. The father argued in the court that his daughter, who is living with a partial paralysis, lacked the capacity to decide to be killed by euthanasia.

The woman was scheduled to be killed by euthanasia on August 2 but the judge suspended the death until a higher court can hear the case.

Faharas.net reported on August 15 that the same judge has recently suspended the death of another person, a man (54) who has had three strokes and two heart attacks. Both cases were brought to court by family members who questioned the euthanasia approval.

Christian Daily reported on August 15 that the judge suspended the euthanasia death of the 23-year-old woman because, as stated:

"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,”

It appears that the parameters of the Spanish law will be determined, over time, by the courts.

Spanish court to decide if 23 year old woman dies by euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Spanish media reported today that the father of a 23 year-old woman has challenged in court the approval of euthanasia for his daughter. An article published by ACI Prensa (google translated) reported that:

The Spanish courts are currently maintaining the suspension of the execution of a euthanasia procedure on a 23-year-old girl that was to be carried out on August 2, pending the intervention of higher authorities.

The father of the young woman, aged 23, urged the suspension of euthanasia because his daughter does not have the capacity to “make decisions freely, consciously and informed” due to “mental disorders, which include suicidal ideation, paranoid ideas and bipolar disorder” as reflected in the petition for precautionary measures.

ACI Prensa reported that:

The young woman, who lacks full mobility in her legs as a result of a suicide attempt in 2022, suffers from a “borderline personality disorder” as well as an “obsessive-compulsive” type of disorder.

The Spanish case is similar to the Calgary case of the father of the 27-year-old autistic woman who successfully challenged the planned euthanasia of his daughter. (Article Link).

Canary Islands: 10 euthanasia deaths since Spain legalized euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Canary Islands News reported on December 21 that there were 10 euthanasia deaths on the islands since Spain legalized euthanasia in June 2021. The Canary Islands are part of Spain but located off the coast of northwestern Africa.

The Canary Island news also stated that Spain's Ministry of Health reported that in 2022 there were 576 requests for euthanasia and 288 euthanasia deaths. From June 2021 until December 31, 2021 there were 173 requests and 75 deaths by euthanasia in Spain.

In August 2022, Marin Sabau, a 46-year-old Romanian man who was awaiting trial for allegedly shooting 5 people, including a police officer, at a Securitas office in Tarragona Spain in December 2021, avoided trial by being approved and dying by euthanasia. Sabau was approved for euthanasia based on an injury from a shot in the spine by a police sharp-shooter, before being apprehended.

The euthanasia lobby published a report in June 2023 pressuring the Spanish government to further expand its euthanasia law.

Slovenia debates assisted suicide. Doctors and medical groups oppose the bill.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Slovenian legislature

On June 19 I reported that Slovenia was debating euthanasia and assisted suicide. A Slovenian group called Silver Thread collected signatures and were demanding the legalization of assisted dying. The bill proposed by Silver Thread was to be introduced in the Slovenian legislature. 

A Slovenian news article indicated that an assisted dying bill was introduced in the Slovenian legislature on July 17.

The Slovenian Times reported on July 21 that the bill would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide and was similar to the Spanish euthanasia law. The article reported:

Jurist Peter Golob said that the bill was the closest to the Spanish law that recognised both procedures, which were tied to the obligation of a certain person to perform the assistance.

He said that the Slovenian proposal was bad as it presented the procedures as a right instead of a possibility, while jurist Urban Vrtačnik added that the proposal lacked a comparable legal analysis and a broader debate on social and legal terms.

There is also a lack of debate on “how to properly balance out values such as the value of life, possibility of making decisions about oneself and inviolability of life in order to obtain a socially and legally coordinated solution,” he added.

On July 25 Representatives of doctors and medical organisations held a press conference to express opposition to the proposed bill to legalise assisted dying, arguing that it is inconsistent with medical ethics and the constitution.

On May 4 the Medical Ethics Commission at the Health Ministry issued an opinion opposing the bill, which it said entails a high level of ethical risk.

Spain has 370 euthanasia deaths in the first 18 months since law came into effect

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Spain euthanasia protest.

Chris King reported for Euro weekly news on June 22 that there were 370 euthanasia deaths in Spain since the euthanasia law came into effect on June 25, 2021.

King reported that a Spanish euthanasia lobby group recently published a report on the number of euthanasia deaths, with recommendations to make it easier to kill people by euthanasia in Spain.

King reported the euthanasia group as stating in their press conference:

DMD has painstakingly collected all the information possible to evaluate its implementation, identify failures and successes, and propose ways of improvement since the law was implemented.

As explained in a press conference held by DMD spokesmen Fernando Marín and Fernando Sanz, of these 370 cases, ‘probably more than 1,000 requested it’.

‘This is good news, and the verification that it was a necessary norm. It is to be expected that the number will grow in the coming years, as this right is consolidated among citizens and the response of the health services improves’, they highlighted.

King reported the following data collected by the euthanasia group:

Specifically, of the 295 euthanasias performed in Spain in 2022, 13 occurred in Navarra (0.206 per cent of deaths); 91 in Catalonia (0.128 per cent); four in La Rioja (0.115 per cent); 24 in the Basque Country (0.101 per cent); six in Cantabria (0.085 per cent); and 38 in Madrid (0.076per cent).

Another nine were carried out in Asturias (0.064 per cent); six in the Balearic Islands (0.063 per cent); ten in the Canary Islands (0.053 per cent); eight in Aragon (0.052 per cent); 26 in the Valencian Community (0.051 per cent); eight in Castilla-La Mancha (0.038 per cent); 29 in Andalucia (0.036 per cent); ten in Castilla y León (0.031 per cent); three in Extremadura (0.024 per cent); eight in Galicia (0.022per cent); and two in Murcia (0.015 per cent).

The euthanasia group complained that conscientious objectors are not referring people for euthanasia, as required by the law, and that the assessment period was often taking 50 days.

The euthanasia lobby group stated that the euthanasia rate will increase as it is further promoted and normalized within the medical system.

In August 2022, Marin Sabau, a 46-year-old Romanian man who was awaiting trial for allegedly shooting 5 people, including a police officer, at a Securitas office in Tarragona Spain in December 2021, avoided trial by dying by euthanasia. Sabau was approved for euthanasia after being injured when he was shot in the spine by a police sharp-shooter, before he was apprehended.

Spain, like Canada, succumbs to euthanasia as "medical care"

Gordon Friesen

By Gordon Friesen
President of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

For years, going back to the original Canadian definition of euthanasia (Quebec 2014), I have been dramatically proclaiming that "Our country, and our country alone has explicitly defined euthanasia as medical care". Unfortunately, it seems that this shocking statement has actually been out of date for over a year. For there is a relatively new law in Spain (2021) which does everything that Quebec law does, and then some.

The truly tragic significance of this event lies in the fact that Canada can no longer be written off as one embarrassing aberration. The wild-eyed international pariah which slammed the door on its way out of the World Medical Association in 2018, now has a friend. A second "civilized" nation will now join her in promoting death, not as a mere choice, but as a medically indicated treatment. And the normalization of that pernicious idea will both be strengthened within Canada, and gain a new clout beyond our borders.

Why the medical definition of euthanasia matters

One of several logical results of according medical status to euthanasia is to guarantee the death of huge numbers of incapable patients (and perhaps of incapable patients as an entire class), subject only to vague notions of "suffering".

And that is because we cannot ethically withhold a positive benefit from people just because they are old, or young, or cognitively disabled, or unconscious! If any such person breaks an arm, it is our duty to set the bone in that arm. And in exactly the same manner, if euthanasia is defined as appropriate care then that care must be provided, whether the patient be capable of consent, or no.

One might, of course, vigorously object to this statement, and even point to the fact that full age, and full capability, are the very first criteria of eligibility in both Canadian, and Spanish law. However, if anyone believes that those requirements will stand the test of time and litigation, I have swamp land that I would like to sell to that person.

In fact, there isn't even any serious attempt to hide future intentions! The brand-new Spanish law already provides an exception to its own first principle, in allowing euthanasia by advance directive. For whatever else one might say: it is an obvious fact that the person killed by advance directive is not capable of consent.

So, how long will we pretend that it is logically ethical to kill one incapable patient, but not another in the next bed, perhaps in a greater state of decline and discomfort than the roommate? Is this not merely a question of recognizing standard protocols of substituted consent? We already apply these protocols in all other life-critical circumstances. So, again: how long will we agree to pretend that it is ethical to remove food, water, and even air (by substituted consent) but not ethical to provide euthanasia?

Infanticide

Another particularly striking example concerns children. It is now the position officially presented by representatives of the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons, that children from 0-1 years of age should be eligible for euthanasia, subject only to parental consent. Is that not also perfectly logical? And why stop at one year? Removal of hydration and ventilation is allowed for older children. Why not euthanasia as well?

Bait and Switch

It may come as a surprise, then, to many citizens of Spain, wishing perhaps to provide voluntary options of free choice, to learn that they have actually produced a law which implicitly requires the mass evacuation of so-called "incapable patients", including but not limited to infanticide until one year, and dementia in the elderly. But that, as Canadian experience shows, is exactly where Spanish law will lead.

And if not, why not? Why would these fatal legal dominoes fall any differently in their land than in ours?

The bottom line

Perhaps in a further article I will have an opportunity to go through the two laws, point by point, to show exactly how the Spanish version permits everything already seen in Canada (even providing one or two "improvements" on the Canadian theme).

Nor is it incapable patients, alone, who will pay the price!

In this piece, however, my goal has simply been to announce this terrible first news: Our abominable Canadian interpretation of euthanasia, as standard medical care, has now officially "gone viral".

Gordon Friesen is a disabled individual who has followed the assisted death question closely since the early 1990s, and is currently President of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.

Canada leads the world in organ donation after euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Reporter, Marnie Cathcart, wrote a commentary on a recent study published in the American Journal of Transplantation on increasing trend of organ donation after euthanasia. Cathcart was published by the Epoch Times on January 17, 2023. Cathcart wrote:

Canadian patients who opt for euthanasia provide more transplant organs than any other country globally that allows physician-assisted suicide, according to the first international review of medical assistance in dying (MAID).

Patients in Canada who decide to end their lives with physician help also contributed to almost half of the world’s documented organ transplants occurring after euthanasia.

Canada legalized euthanasia in 2016, and became a world leader of the practice in 2022, with record numbers of people committing suicide with physician-administered lethal drugs. As of May 2022, eight countries in the world allowed death by “intravenous practitioner-administration of lethal substances,” the type of MAID compatible with subsequent organ donation.

Five years ago, patients had to be facing imminent death in order to avail of the procedure. That is not the case anymore.

As of last year, Canadians who wanted help to end their lives did not have to suffer from a terminal condition. Instead, they could qualify for MAID with a “serious and incurable illness, disease or disability.” The availability for MAID was expanded in 2022, with plans to include mental illness as a qualifying condition by March 17, 2023.

Cathcart does not state it but expanding euthanasia to people who are not dying, increased the available of organ donors because people who are not dying are more likely to have healthy organs. Cathcart comments on how altruism is a leading reason why people agree to organ donation after euthanasia.

Canada has some of the most liberal rules in the world for receiving assisted suicide. The authors of the review noted that clear ethical standards need to be implemented, as there are consent and trust issues to resolve due to “potentially influenceable” patients.

The report noted that altruism could become a motivating factor in ending one’s life. There is “risk that knowing how many people their organs could help, will prevent the MAID patient from feeling absolute freedom to change their mind, right up until the last time they are asked whether they wish to proceed, just before substance administration,” it noted.

Ethical Concerns

Organ donation after euthanasia “raises some important ethical concerns involving patient autonomy, the link between the request for MAID and the request to donate organs and the increased burden placed on seriously ill MAID patients,” said the report.

In Canada in 2021, the most commonly cited “intolerable physical or psychological suffering” reported by patients who wanted assisted suicide was “the loss of ability to engage in meaningful activities (86.3 percent), followed closely by the loss of ability to perform activities of daily living (83.4 percent),” according to a Health Canada report.

In 2016, there were just over 1,000 deaths by euthanasia. That number skyrocketed to 31,644 in total by the end of 2021. In 2021 alone, more than 10,000 people died after euthanasia.

The number of people obtaining assisted suicide was up 32.4 percent in 2021 from 2020, according to Health Canada.

Cathcart explains that Canadians who die by euthanasia at home are still donating their organs.

Canada is also leading globally in another area, according to the review. There have been eight documented assisted suicides where the patient had MAID in their homes and were then transported by ambulance to have their organs removed. Five of those occurred in Canada.

Cathcart then comments on the data:

The international review notes that four countries allow euthanasia patients to donate organs—Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain—and 268 patients who ended their lives with MAID had their organs transplanted in 837 patients, in the years up to and including 2021. One deceased could donate multiple organs to more than one recipient.

A total of 2,782 organ transplants were performed in Canada in 2021; 78 percent of transplants used deceased donor organs and 21 percent used living donor organs.

Of those organ transplants, 136 came from deceased Canadian donors, making up 6 percent of all transplants in the country, according to the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Organ donation after euthanasia (ODE) began in 2005 globally, and by 2017 was developed for patients obtaining MAID from home.

“ODE is of increasing importance for donors, representing up to 14 percent of donations after circulatory determination of death,” said the report.

The review began in 2021 and the resulting study, “Practice and challenges for organ donation after medical assistance in dying: A scoping review including the results of the first international roundtable in 2021,” appeared in the December 2022 issue of the American Journal of Transplantation.

The review noted that organ donation from assisted-suicide patients raised many “unique, ethical and logistical considerations” and had multiple stakeholders, including the patient and family, end-of-life care providers, and organ procurement organizations.

According to the review, in 2020, there were 17,217 assisted suicide deaths globally, which included those who self-administered MAID drugs. Most of the patients had cancer or neurological conditions, said the report.

Cathcart explains that there are problems with organ donation after euthanasia:

Trudo Lemmens, professor in health law and policy at the University of Toronto, told CTV News that more than 35 percent of those Canadians who had assisted suicide in 2021 felt they were “a burden on family, friends or caregivers” according to a Health Canada report.

“I am concerned that people who struggle with a lack of self-esteem and self-worth may be pushed to see this as an opportunity to mean something,” Lemmens told reporters.

The author of the review, Dr. Johannes Mulder, who provides MAID in Zwolle, Netherlands, did not reply by press time, but told reporters “guidelines are necessary and should also be strict” when adding organ donation to assisted suicide.

Organ donation after euthanasia “is an exceptional procedure, presenting legal, ethical, and operational challenges and requiring dedicated guidance that will gain and retain society’s confidence. If protocols are diffuse in their aims or burdened by earlier habits and ways of thinking, quality of care could be compromised and trust lost,” stated the report.

“If a public misperception arises that ODE is aimed at increasing organ procurement, this confidence will be rapidly lost.”

I have several primary concerns with organ donation after euthanasia. My first concern is that once killing by euthanasia is normalized, euthanasia will be sold as a "cultural good" since it provides more organs for donation. My second concern is how people with disabilities and mental illness, who are not physically sick, will be encouraged to die by euthanasia because they have healthier organs than people who are physically sick or dying.

My major concern is with the cultural change in ethics. Once organ donation by euthanasia is common then euthanasia by organ donation will be promoted. Why wait for the person to die, who has agreed to be killed by euthanasia, since euthanizing them by removing vital organs has the same outcome and provides healthier organs for donation.

Spain: Man who shot police officer avoids trial and dies by euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Marin Sabau was a 46-year-old Romanian man who was awaiting trial for allegedly shooting 5 people, including a police officer, at a Securitas office in Tarragona Spain in December 2021 has avoided trial and died by euthanasia. Sabau was approved for euthanasia for his injury caused by being shot in the spine by a police sharp-shooter.

Euronews reported:

The law allowing euthanasia in Spain came into force last year for adults with serious and incurable conditions that cause "unbearable suffering".

The case of the so-called "Gunslinger of Tarragona" has divided Spain, as lawyers for Sabau's victims had called for him to go to trial to receive compensation.

"The victims have a feeling of frustration, a person was left to decide when and how to end the legal proceedings," said José Antonio Bitos, the lawyer for two injured policemen injured.

Euronews reported that Bitos is concerned with how this decision affects other crimes.

Bitos added that his clients would receive damages from Spain's public administration because they were injured on duty, while other victims "will not get a trial or compensation".

He noted that the decision weakens the rule of law in Spain and could set a precedent for other serious crimes, including terrorism or paedophilia, and has called for the law on euthanasia to be updated.

I am very concerned with the direction of the Spanish euthanasia law. The court stated, in this case, that euthanasia is a fundamental right. If euthanasia is a fundamental right, then every restriction in the law will someday be removed because you cannot limit a fundamental right.

Previous articles on this story:

• Man who shot a Spanish police officer will avoid trial and die by euthanasia (Link). 
• Spain: Police shooter to avoid trial after being approved for euthanasia (Link).
  

Two stories from two countries.

This article was published by National Review on August 25, 2022.

By Wesley Smith

Euthanasia is showing its fangs in places such as Canada and Spain.

First, in Spain, a criminal who shot four people and was, in turn, shot in the spine by police and paralyzed, was granted death by euthanasia. From the EuroNews story:

Since December, he has been bedridden at the Terrassa prison hospital near Barcelona and had demanded the right to die. A Tarragona court judge ruled in his favour earlier this month, ruling that he had a “fundamental right” to “dignity”.

Spain has no death penalty, so even if the victims had died, he would have faced no lethal consequence as the death penalty is considered cruel and unusual punishment. But death was deemed “dignified” because the criminal was paralyzed. So I guess we could call this cruel and unusual death with dignity that allowed a criminal to avoid the consequences of his attempted lethal action and a form of death penalty to be applied.

Meanwhile, our cousins in Canada are embroiled in an entirely predictable euthanasia scandal. Rather than properly treat a veteran with PTSD, a social worker suggested euthanasia. From the Daily Mail story:

A spokesperson confirmed that all frontline staff at the VAC are to be given ‘formal training, direction and advice’ on how to approach the issues surrounding MAiD.

The veteran, who has not been identified, claims the service agent they spoke to brought up the option repeatedly even after he asked them to stop. He also said that the service agent told him in the call about having helped another veteran access MAiD through VAC including supporting that person’s children.

The service agent reportedly said ‘ better than blowing his brains out all over the wall or driving his car into something’, when discussing the separate case.

But don’t worry. An investigation has been promised. The veteran’s case isn’t the first time that Canada offered death instead of proper caring, and it won’t be the last.

Man who shot a Spanish police officer will avoid trial and die by euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article by Stephen Burgen for the Guardian reports that Marin Eugen Sabau, a 46-year-old Romanian man who is awaiting trial for injuring 5 people after shooting them at a Securitas office in Tarragona Spain last December will avoid his trial because he has been approved to die by euthanasia. Sabau was shot in the spine by a police sharp-shooter.

Burgen reports:

The national court in Tarragona upheld an earlier court ruling that, given his condition, Sabau had a right to euthanasia under a law passed last year. The court said the law had not anticipated a situation in which a person facing criminal charges might request assisted dying.

Sabau requested euthanasia based on the fact that his injury from being shot in the spine enabled him to qualify for euthanasia in Spain.

The lawyer for Jose Antonio Bitos, one of the injured officers, argued that Sabau should not avoid his trial or conviction by euthanasia. The lawyer appealed the lower court ruling permitting Sabau's death by euthanasia. The national court upheld the lower court decision.

I am very concerned with the direction of the Spanish euthanasia law. The court stated that euthanasia is a fundamental right. If euthanasia is a fundamental right, then all of the restrictions in the law will someday be removed from the law. You cannot limit a fundamental right.

Spain: Where the right to die trumps the right to justice

This article was published by Mercatornet on July 25, 2022.

Should a murderer escape his day in court by asking for euthanasia?

Michael Cook

By Michael Cook, the editor of Mercatornet

Catalonia’s capital, Barcelona, successfully bid for the Olympics in 1992. Thirty years later Catalonia is making a bid to be the world capital of euthanasia fundamentalism.

A recent case in a court in the city of Tarragona, about 100 kilometres south of Barcelona, is a prime exhibit for the loopiness of a pro-euthanasia mentality.

In Catalonia, euthanasia is far from uncommon. Since euthanasia was legalized in Spain in June last year, 60 of the country’s 172 cases have taken place in this region — more than a third, although Catalonia has only 16 percent of the total population.

The man at the centre of this controversy is Marin Eugen Sabau. He wants to die. “I am paraplegic. I have 45 stitches in my hand. I cannot move my left arm well. I have screws in my body and cannot feel from the chest down,” he says. If anyone had a right to end their pain and die with dignity, it was Marin Eugen Sabau. Two doctors and two representatives of the regional government, a doctor and a lawyer, agreed. Mr Sabau’s application was processed with unusual haste. A date was set – July 28.

However, a judge recently issued a temporary stay and Sabau’s death has been delayed.

Why? Mr Sabau’s case is exceptional, even unprecedented — because he is awaiting trial for attempted murder and a host of other charges. If he were euthanised, he would never be tried for those crimes.

On December 14 last year, Mr Sabau, a 45-year-old Romanian security guard, donned a goofy woman’s wig, walked into his workplace in Tarragona, and shot three of his co-workers. Then he fled the scene and barricaded himself in an abandoned farmhouse. In a gun battle with police, two of them were wounded. Eventually snipers put Mr Sabau out of action, shooting him in his back, his arm and his leg. He ended up a paraplegic and one of his legs was amputated.

Feeling none too chipper after the sudden changes in his life, Mr Sabau asked for euthanasia. The police were horrified. Where was justice for the victims? They objected in a court in Tarragona. The judge, Sonia Zapater, backed Mr Sabau.

Ms Zapater acknowledged that there was a “collision of fundamental rights”. But she ruled that Mr Sabau’s right to an autonomous decision must prevail over the right of victims to justice. Under the law only minors and mentally impaired patients who cannot give informed consent are ineligible for euthanasia. She dismissed the victims’ appeal.

This was euthanasia fundamentalism at its most fanatical. Only one thing mattered: the autonomous will. The individual owes nothing to other human beings or to society. The only thing that counts is his pain; woolly notions like justice or responsibility are meaningless.

Fortunately for the victims, Ms Zapater took her holiday leave, and another judge agreed to grant a stay. What happens next will be a test of Spain’s commitment to the rule of law – and to common sense.

Euthanasia fundamentalism at its most extreme is at work in Catalonia. Mr Sabau’s presumed right to a “death with dignity” has so far trumped all claims that society has upon him. He tried to kill several of his fellow citizens, breaching the most fundamental norm of the law in a civilised society – Thou shalt not kill. Doesn’t society have a right to declare that his actions were destructive, dangerous, and wrong? Don’t his victims have a right to have their pain recognised?

No, not in Catalonia.

A local newspaper interviewed María Jiménez, a bioethicist at Universitat Rovira i Virgili, in Tarragona, about the case. Yup, the judge was right, she said. The victims of the crime have no say in whether or not Mr Sabau “escapes justice”. Her reasoning is worth recording:

“For me there is a fundamental issue, which is the management of emotions. On the one hand, there is the right of this person, but on the other, the right to compensate the moral damage that other people have, emotionally, this weighs heavily, and society expects a protective response towards the victims. It is a difficult problem to solve, since whatever decision is taken, it will probably not satisfy both parties because they are two completely extreme points.”

In her autonomy-driven vision of law, justice – giving each party his due – has disappeared. All that remains are competing emotions. But this is false. Law is not about rage and vengeance but about restoring the moral balance which a criminal has upset. That’s why there was such an uproar when paedophile Jeffrey Epstein avoided his trial by committing suicide. As a lawyer for the victims said: “[They] deserved to see Epstein held accountable, and he owed it to everyone he hurt to accept responsibility for all of the pain he caused.” There speaks 2500 years of Western culture. The normalisation of euthanasia threatens to undermine this.

Mr Sabau intended to kill people and almost succeeded. He grievously wounded several of them. Ideally, he should acknowledge his crime and be reconciled with his victims and society. If he escapes his appointment with justice, euthanasia will not bring him death with dignity. Only a man who takes responsibility for his actions truly has dignity.

Spain: Police shooter to avoid trial after his euthanasia death was approved.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A shooter in Spain who was seriously injured when he was arrested last December for shooting three fellow workers and two police officers may avoid trial for his crimes through euthanasia.

Murcia today reported:

A court in Barcelona has green-lighted the assisted death request of Marin Eugen Sabau, a 46-year-old Romanian man who is awaiting trial for injuring 5 people after opening fire at a Securitas office in Tarragona last December.

According to Spanish News Today:

Last December, the 46-year-old Romanian man entered the Securitas offices from which he had recently been let go and opened fire, seriously injuring two other workers and the manager. While fleeing the scene, he shot an officer manning a checkpoint before locking himself into a deserted farmhouse. Police surrounded the property and when the gunman opened fire, a shoot-out ensured.

The man was critically injured... with an irreversible spinal chord injury.

Sabau requested euthanasia based on the fact that people in his condition qualify for euthanasia in Spain.

The lawyer for Jose Antonio Bitos, one of the injured officers, argued that Sabau should not avoid his trial or conviction by euthanasia. Murcia today reported that the lawyer will present a new appeal to the Provincial court and that the lawyer tends to appeal the decision, even up to the Constitutional court.

Spain: 180 euthanasia deaths in the first year of the law.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Spain's Minister of Health Carolina Darias announced last Friday that there were 180 euthanasia deaths in the first year since legalization.

The SUR news in English stated:

During the event, which included a screening of the short 'El viaje a Islandia', by César Vallejo de Castro, the Minister stressed that when patients request euthanasia, the medical teams make sure that they fulfil all the criteria, are fully aware of what they are asking and are exercising their right without coming under pressure from anyone else.

'El viaje a Islandia' is a short film that promotes euthanasia. Therefore the Minister of Health decided to promote more euthanasia rather than simply announce the first year data.

Spain operates its law in a tighter manner than Canada. In Spain every euthanasia death is approved by a committee rather than the decision being made by to two pro-euthanasia medical practitioners, as is done in Canada.