The contentious-administrative court number 5 of Barcelona has reactivated the case for the euthanasia of Francesc Augé, the 56-year-old man to whom the Generalitat granted dignified death, but whose father appealed to the justice system to halt it more than two years ago.
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This Thursday the court has notified the parties that finally, more than three months after the Supreme Court ruling on euthanasia was published, it has had official knowledge of it, making the pending appeal final and reactivating the judicial process.
The decision comes after months of judicial inactivity in the case and two days after SER reported Augé’s desperate suicide attempt after 768 days of judicial waiting.
In an order to which the mentioned broadcaster has had access, the fifth contentious plaza of Barcelona has notified that it assumes again the jurisdiction of the case to analyze whether Augé can receive assisted death.
The contentious-administrative chamber of the High Court of Justice of Catalonia sent this Wednesday to the Barcelona court the June ruling of the Supreme Court.
It was this last court, although with a different presiding judge, that in November 2024 dismissed the appeal of the patient’s father without even analyzing the substance of the matter. This decision was appealable, which opened a two-year judicial journey. The then presiding judge argued that dignified death is a personal and non-transferable decision that cannot be appealed by a third party.
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On June 3, the plenary session of the contentious-administrative chamber of the Supreme Court made the ruling public: 23 judges agreed that relatives can oppose the dignified death of their loved ones, although with conditions. The appellants must justify a special bond with the euthanized patient.
Dissenting vote of nine judges
Against this position, nine other magistrates signed a dissenting vote in which they consider that there is no opposition from a third party.
Since then, Augé’s euthanasia has remained halted without the court reactivating the case processing. Despite two requests from the Generalitat of Catalonia, there have been no developments until this Thursday, when the contentious court incorporated the resolved appeals into the file to reactivate the case, although for now, without announcing what the next steps will be.
At the end of August, elDiario.es reported that Augé’s father had given up maintaining the legal battle against his son. The father’s lawyer informed, according to the cited media, that the litigant would not continue with the judicial process despite the Supreme Court ruling that sided with him, leaving the way clear for his son.
However, recently Francesc’s lawyer, consulted by La Vanguardia, acknowledged that she did not have official confirmation that her client’s father had withdrawn from the case.
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