Spanish judge orders euthanasia death inquiry
story 9:15AM Thursday January 18, 2007

MADRID - A Spanish judge has ordered an investigation into how a terminally ill Frenchwoman died, after a newspaper reported that members of a pro-euthanasia group were present at her death, a Spanish news agency said today.

The order was issued after the dead woman's son lodged a complaint with the authorities, saying that his mother had not told him of her intentions and that he was disturbed her death was witnessed, the state-owned news agency EFE reported.

The newspaper El Pais today published a detailed account of her last hours, accompanied by members of pro-euthanasia group Right to a Dignified Death. It gave no precise details of how she died.

Under Spanish law, it is illegal to induce someone to commit suicide or to co-operate in a suicide.

The woman, known only as Madeleine Z., was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

"I'm happy, and happy you're here," Madeleine told the witnesses to her death, according to El Pais.


However, her son, Domingo Biver, was angry.

"If my mother had taken a decision to end something ... then I can respect that," Biver told EFE.

"But I don't think it's right that there were three people watching my mother's death."

The woman had suffered from the disease, an invariably fatal motor neuron disorder, for five years and was diagnosed in 2003.

- REUTERS