Malaga leads Andalucía euthanasia cases with 13 in 2025

Malaga province recorded 13 euthanasia cases in 2025, the most in Andalucía, Sur in English reported on Oct. 19, citing the Andalusian guarantee and evaluation commission’s latest report.

The province accounted for 13 of Andalucía’s 35 cases, or almost four in ten, while its total slipped from 14 cases in 2024, according to the report cited by Sur in English.

Malaga also processed 24 of Andalucía’s 61 assisted-dying cases during the last financial year, the report said. Across the region, 112 applications were filed in 2025, resulting in 35 euthanasia procedures, including four that began the previous year.

Gabriel Sánchez Bellón, chairman in Andalucía of the right-to-die association DMD, linked Malaga’s higher numbers to population and healthcare staffing. “I think perhaps the mindset of healthcare staff in Malaga is more open,” he said, according to Sur in English.

The figures come five years after Spain approved its euthanasia law. Since 2022, the first full year of implementation, 41 people have received assisted dying in Malaga province, compared with 114 across Andalucía, the commission report said.

Spanish law allows euthanasia requests from people with a serious and incurable illness or a serious, chronic and debilitating condition. The process generally requires two voluntary written requests at least 15 days apart, medical assessment, information on treatment and palliative care, and review by a guarantee and assessment committee made up of healthcare and legal professionals.

The report pointed to faster handling of applications. Average time from first request to authorisation fell to 47.68 days in 2025, compared with nearly 66 days in 2024 and 82 days in 2022. Patients then waited a further 22 days on average to receive assistance.

Sánchez Bellón said the main operational strain remains the shortage of doctors willing or able to handle cases. “That is still the fundamental bottleneck,” he said, adding that some cases require doctors from other healthcare areas or provinces.

Conscientious objection remains part of the pressure on the system. In 2025, 244 additional healthcare workers registered as conscientious objectors in Andalucía, including 60 in Malaga and 65 in Seville, Sur in English reported.

The most common conditions among applicants were neurological illnesses, which accounted for almost half of cases, followed by cancer and psychiatric conditions. Most applicants were aged 60 to 79, and general practitioners handled more than 80% of procedures, according to the report.

Hospitals were the most frequent setting for euthanasia procedures in Andalucía in 2025, though 11 patients received assistance at home. In all cases, healthcare professionals administered the medication directly, with no self-administration cases recorded.

Legal and ethical disputes continue to focus on how suffering is assessed. In 2025, 14 appeals were filed with the Andalusian commission against unfavourable decisions; one was upheld, ten were rejected, one case was ordered for review, one person died before a response and one withdrew the appeal.

This year’s debate also included the case of Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old from Barcelona who underwent euthanasia on March 26 after two years of legal proceedings linked to her father’s opposition. Sur in English reported that Spain’s Supreme Court later recognised, in separate proceedings, that certain people with a close relationship to an applicant may challenge an authorisation in court.

Retired judge Alfredo Elías Mondeja supported that decision, saying close relatives may provide relevant information about whether a patient’s decision is free and informed. Sánchez Bellón opposed wider family appeals, saying, “No one has the right to deprive a person of the exercise of a legally recognised right.”

In Andalucía, three administrative appeals have been filed since the euthanasia law took effect, all dismissed by final rulings. None were filed in 2024 or 2025, Sur in English reported.

Source: news report, Sur in English, Oct. 19, 2026