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Noelia Castillo euthanasia case

Noelia Castillo Ramos was a Spanish woman who died after receiving euthanasia. Her request for euthanasia became a landmark case in Spain on the application of the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia in the country. At age 25, she was one of the youngest people to receive medical assistance in dying after demonstrating chronic and irreversible pain. Her case garnered significant public attention due to a two-year legal battle, in which the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) had to intervene to validate her right against appeals filed by her father and the Christian Lawyers Association, who questioned her legal capacity.

Background
When Castillo was 13, her parents lost their home, and she initially lived with her father. She was taken into social care, and was there from July 2015 to February 2019, when she voluntarily left as a legal adult. On 4 October 2022, several days after the second group assault, Castillo attempted suicide by jumping from a building. ==Campaign==
Campaign
Legal request Castillo formally requested euthanasia in April 2024, invoking the provisions of existing Spanish law. Her procedure was unanimously approved by the Guarantee and Evaluation Commission of Catalonia in July 2024 and was due to take place the next month. The main obstacle was the opposition of her father, who, with the support of the Christian Lawyers Association (), initiated a series of legal appeals to halt the procedure. All courts rejected the request to stop the procedure and upheld Castillo's right to die. The father argued that his daughter could not make her own judgements due to her personality disorder, and that the state had a responsibility to protect her. Despite having legal approval, the procedure was delayed for 601 days due to the protracted legal battle. In March 2025, her father's appeal was rejected by a court in Barcelona that found that Castillo was not incapable of making a decision on euthanasia. An appeal to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia upheld the euthanasia in September 2025, but permitted an appeal to the Supreme Court of Spain. On 29 January 2026, the father's appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court, and his appeal to the Constitutional Court of Spain was dismissed as he did not specify how his human rights were violated. On 10 March 2026, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, France rejected the father's final appeal. In her final interview, broadcast on Antena 3's '''' on 25 March 2026, Castillo said that her decision to die was personal and she was not encouraging other people to request euthanasia. Death On 26 March 2026, Castillo, aged 25, underwent euthanasia at a healthcare centre in Sant Pere de Ribes in the Province of Barcelona. Her mother requested to be present in the room, but she chose to die alone. Castillo was the third youngest person to receive euthanasia in Spain. Of the 1,123 people who had received euthanasia, two people, aged 22 and 23, were younger. ==Reactions==
Reactions
British concert pianist and writer James Rhodes, who lives in Spain and is a survivor of child sexual abuse, offered to pay for Castillo's mental and physical healthcare. Castillo's euthanasia was debated in the Congress of Deputies. Politicians from parties including the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Republican Left of Catalonia, Galician Nationalist Bloc, EH Bildu and Sumar spoke in support. The People's Party and Vox criticised the decision. Luis Argüello, archbishop of Valladolid and president of the Spanish Episcopal Conference of the Catholic Church, condemned the euthanasia. José Mazuelos Pérez, Bishop of the Canary Islands, said the outcome was "another step towards a culture of death, throwing in the towel on the humanisation of medicine." The bishops of the Subcommission for the Family and the Defence of Life said that the case exemplified "an accumulation of personal suffering and institutional shortcomings that calls the whole of society into question" (cf. Christianity and euthanasia). ==Misinformation==
Misinformation
Castillo's father's lawyers said that they had information from a relative that she was gang-raped by unaccompanied child migrants while in a care centre. This was then disseminated by Vox leader Santiago Abascal. Various fact-checking websites consider this to be misinformation: Castillo was 21 when she attempted suicide days after the group assault, and had left care over three years earlier. In her broadcast interview, she did not describe her assailants, and said the incidents happened at a nightclub. Castillo's euthanasia was also reported as being granted due to her having depression, but officially it was granted due to chronic and irreversible pain from her suicide attempt. == See also ==
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