(Madrid) Spain’s assisted suicide law is under the spotlight after medics cleared the death of a former security guard who was tried for storming his former workplace a year ago. year, shooting and injuring three people and then a policeman.
Posted at 10:17 a.m.
Eugen Sabau, known in Spain as ‘the gunman of Tarragona’, requested euthanasia in June, six months after he was diagnosed with quadriplegia when police subdued him in a shootout following of the December 14 attack in the northeast of the city.
Victims had argued that Mr. Sabau should not receive assisted dying before his trial, but two Spanish courts ruled that the defendant’s right to request assisted suicide prevailed. The man died on Tuesday in a prison in northeastern Spain.
In March 2021, Spain became the fourth country in Europe to allow physician-assisted suicide for patients with incurable diseases and for people with unbearable permanent illnesses.
In Canada, the Supreme Court ruled to allow physician-assisted suicide in 2015. The following year, the federal government passed the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Act which sets out eligibility criteria and safeguards procedures for medically assisted suicide. In 2021, new legislation was passed to expand MAID eligibility.
A court in Tarragona ruled that Eugen Sabau suffered from unbearable pain without the possibility of relief and agreed with the medical commission to delay it until the trial undermined the dignity and rights of the accused.
The injured policeman’s lawyer, José Antonio Bitos, said on Wednesday that Spain’s assisted suicide law was passed in haste and should be reformed to prevent similar cases from happening again. He said the case sets a precedent and could potentially be used by defendants who are in similar circumstances and face long sentences if convicted.
Ramón Riu, an expert in constitutional law, told Spanish national television that the case “is a precedent and the courts will certainly take it into account in the future, but they will not be obliged to follow the same criteria”.
Me Bitos took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, but failed to obtain a stay. He said he hoped the court would look into the case and urge Spain to make changes.
Eugen Sabau, a Romanian residing in Spain, had problems with the private security company he worked for and had warned several colleagues that he would take revenge. Me Bitos said he never apologized for what he did.
The lawyer said it was unclear how the four victims who suffered serious injuries can seek compensation given that there will be no trial.