A 25-year-old woman from Barcelona, who was left paraplegic following a suicide attempt after being gang-raped, is scheduled to undergo euthanasia today. This comes after Spanish courts dismissed her father’s attempts to halt the procedure.
Noelia Castillo will receive the procedure at the Sant Pere de Ribes assisted living facility, concluding a legal struggle that spanned over 18 months.
Initially, her appeal for euthanasia received approval from the Catalan government in July 2024. However, her father’s intervention, backed by the ultraconservative Catholic organization Christian Lawyers, led to a series of legal challenges that delayed the process.
These challenges were ultimately denied by various levels of the Spanish judiciary, including both the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, paving the way for the euthanasia to proceed.
A recent last-ditch effort to prevent the procedure was also turned down by the European Court of Human Rights earlier this week.
Although the European Court will continue to review the case, its current ruling allows the procedure to move forward without further delay.
Castillo, who has been confined to a wheelchair since 2022, has spoken openly about her decision and the suffering she says led her to it.
‘I want to go now and stop suffering, period. None of my family is in favor of euthanasia. But what about all the pain I’ve suffered during all these years?’ she said.
Noelia Castillo, from Barcelona, will undergo assisted dying on Thursday
‘I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult for me, and I have back and leg pain.’
‘The happiness of a father, a mother, or a sister,’ she said, referring to her family members, ‘cannot be more important than the life of a daughter.’
In an interview broadcast on the Spanish Antena 3 programme Y Ahora Sonsoles, she described how she wants to spend her final moments.
‘I’ve told them how I want it to be. I want to die looking beautiful. I’ve always thought I want to die looking good. I’ll wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it will be something simple,’ she said.
She has invited her family to say goodbye beforehand, but said she wants to be alone when the injection is administered.
Castillo spent much of her childhood in care due to her parents’ addiction and mental health problems, and has said a gang rape in 2022 was a turning point.
She was reportedly sexually abused by one of her ex-boyfriends and three other men days before she attempted to take her life, according to Spanish media.
‘I didn’t report it because it was days before I tried to kill myself ,’ she said of the assault.
Later, after using cocaine, she jumped from the fifth floor of a building, leaving her paraplegic.
She suffered a severe spinal chord injury, which has left her unable to move from the waist down and caused severe neuropathic pain and incontinence, according to El Mundo.
‘My father saw me fall and couldn’t do anything,’ the 25-year-old said, ‘But after everything he’s done, I don’t feel sorry for him anymore.’
Her father sought to block her euthanasia through the courts, arguing against her right to die, but she accused him of failing to respect her wishes.
‘He hasn’t respected my decision and he never will,’ she said in her final interview.
‘He wanted to put the house he bought in my name so he could continue collecting child support. After that, he doesn’t want to put the house in my name, or pay for the funeral, or attend the euthanasia, or the burial, and he says he doesn’t want to know anything more about me. That for him I’m already dead.
‘I understand. He’s a father and he doesn’t want to lose a daughter, but he doesn’t listen to me. He never calls me, he never writes to me. The only thing he does is bring me food. Why does he want me alive? To keep me in a hospital?’ she added.
Spain is one of few countries to legalise euthanasia following a 2021 law that comes with strict requirements.
It stipulates that anyone of sound mind who is suffering from a ‘serious and incurable illness’ or a ‘chronic and disabling’ condition can request assistance to die.
The father had said 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 she had changed her mind and that her ailment did not entail ‘unbearable physical or psychological suffering’.
Despite the intense legal fight, Castillo herself contacted Antena 3 after learning the date of her euthanasia to leave a final message.
‘I’ve finally done it. Let’s see if I can finally rest because I can’t take this family anymore, the pain, everything that torments me from what I’ve been through,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to be an example for anyone, it’s simply my life, and that’s all.’
The deputy of the VOX conservative party, Espinosa de los Monteros, gives his support to the demonstration against the euthanasia law in front of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid
Her mother, who also appeared in the interview, said she wished she had a ‘magic wand’ to change her daughter’s mind.
Although the euthanasia is now set to proceed, legal action surrounding the case will continue.
Christian Lawyers has launched further complaints against medical professionals and members of Catalonia’s Guarantee and Evaluation Commission, as well as the former regional health minister, alleging misconduct.
The European Court of Human Rights is also expected to rule at a later date on whether there has been any violation of rights, meaning the wider legal questions raised by Castillo’s case will remain unresolved even after her death.
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