A 25-year-old woman who was at the center of a controversial legal battle in Spain to choose to be euthanized has now died.
Noelia Castillo had fought to be allowed to choose to be euthanized, against the wishes of her own family members.
Her legal battle became a major controversy in Spain and ended up before the European Court of Human Rights, per the BBC.
Campaign groups, supported by her father, fought to stop her from making the decision, arguing that she was incapable of making an informed one.
The ECHR ruled in her favor earlier this year.
Before she died in March, Castillo opened up about the reason she chose to be euthanized.
The lengthy legal battle
Castillo first applied for the right to assisted dying in 2024, and the Catalan Government initially approved the request.
Spain first legalized euthanasia in 2021, becoming the fourth country in the European Union to do so.
Since then, there have been many cases that have been successful in fighting for assisted dying.
In fact, in 2024, data from the Spanish government shows that 426 requests for assisted dying were granted.
Castillo’s appeal was suspended at the last minute after objections were made by a conservative campaign group called Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers).
The group was acting in support of Castillo’s father, who was firmly against her decision.
They argued that Castillo’s psychiatric condition meant that she was unable to make an informed decision about what she wanted to happen.
According to her family, she suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder.
It is reported that she had been in psychiatric treatment since the age of 13, when her parents separated.
Her father argued that it was ‘the obligation of the state to protect the lives of people’ and by allowing his daughter to die,e they were failing ‘the most vulnerable.’
This objection sparked a legal battle that lasted almost two years and ultimately reached the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
It was at the ECHR in Strasbourg that Castillo’s father’s requests were finally rejected, a nd her right to assisted dying was approved.
After she died, the Abogados Cristianos posted on social media that the case ‘highlights the serious flaws’ in the Spanish assisted dying laws.
“Noelia’s case had moved the entire world,” they said.
“The euthanasia law must be abolished. Every life should be defended, not abandoned.”
‘I just want to leave in peace.’
Before she died, Castillo opened up to the BBC about her decision.
She said that she had always ‘felt alone’ in her appeal as her family repeatedly fought against her wishes.
“Nobody in my family is in favor,” she said.
“I am leaving, a nd you are staying here with all the pain, but what about all the suffering I have endured over the years?
“I just want to live in peace and stop the pain.
“The happiness of a father or a mother or a sister shouldn’t precede the happiness of a daughter.”
She added that she would allow her family to come and say goodbye, but when it came to the injection, it would just be her and the doctor.
Her mother, Yoland, said that although she didn’t agree with her daughter’s decision, she ‘respected’ it.
Why did she choose to be euthanized?
Castillo chose to be euthanized after she had jumped from a fifth-floor window following multiple s****l assault incidents.
She said the first assault was by her ex-boyfriend of four years after she had taken sleeping pills to help her sleep.
After that, she said she was also assaulted in a nightclub by a group of men.
In 2022, she says that she was gang-r***d by 3 boys in a state-supervised center for vulnerable youth.
These incidents left Castillo struggling to cope, and so she decided to end her life by jumping out of the window.
She survived the fall, but it left her paralyzed from the waist down.
It also resulted in her suffering from severe chronic pain with no possibility of improvement.
Her mental health had also deteriorated significantly since the incident, and she was struggling to cope.
Noelia died on 26 March after her wish to be euthanized was granted.
