Twenty-five-year-old Noelia Castillo of Spain died by state-assisted euthanasia on Thursday, overcoming her father’s yearslong legal battle to stop it.
Days before her death, Castillo, who did not have a terminal illness, gave an interview to the Spanish news channel Antena 3 where she said she wanted to stop suffering. Castillo’s death has fueled discussions on the ethics of assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Barriers to assisted suicide and euthanasia have broken down in Spain and in many countries across Europe and the world in the past decade. In Canada, which legalized it in 2016, the number of assisted suicides has increased significantly every year at a nonlinear rate. Data from 2023 shows assisted suicide as the fifth most common cause of death in the country.
Who was Noelia Castillo?
Castillo’s childhood was difficult, by her own account. Her parents separated when she was 13, and she spent much of her time in a state-run supervised care center. As a young teenager, Castillo was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder.
In her early 20s, Castillo was a victim of sexual assault and gang rape, and in 2022, she survived a suicide attempt. She jumped from the fifth-floor window of an apartment building, and the fall left her paralyzed from the waist down. For the last 3½ years, Castillo has been wheelchair-bound.
In 2024, the Catalan Guarantee and Evaluation Commission granted Castillo unanimous approval for euthanasia.
Her death was scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday. An hour beforehand, a former friend, Carla Rodríguez, came to the hospital to try to persuade Castillo to change her mind, but police barred her from entering.
British pianist James Rhodes also reached out to Castillo on social media before 5 p.m., offering to pay her medical bills until she was “able to take this decision from a slightly more tranquil place.”
In her final moments, Castillo asked to be alone.
Her father, Gerónimo Castillo, fought her euthanasia in court
Noelia Castillo’s request for euthanasia was granted on July 18, 2024, when she was 22.
She met the legal requirements, since she had a “nonrecoverable clinical situation” that caused her “severe dependence, pain, and chronic, disabling suffering.”
Gerónimo Castillo had witnessed his daughter’s first attempt to take her own life in 2022 and opposed her decision. His legal battle delayed Noelia’s euthanasia by 20 months and went through five judicial levels, ending at the European Court of Human Rights.
Every judicial body ruled that Castillo met the requirements and was capable of choosing to end her life.
“I understand he’s a father, that he doesn’t want to lose a daughter,” the 25-year-old told Antena 3.
On Wednesday, as a final attempt to stop Castillo’s death, Gerónimo Castillo asked an investigating court to look into his daughter’s medical-legal team and introduce “urgent precautionary measures,” but a judge rejected it due to a lack of jurisdiction.
Gerónimo’s last appeal was rejected by the European Court of Human Rights on March 10.
What does the current euthanasia landscape look like?
Early euthanasia laws applied only to individuals with chronic illnesses who were expected to die soon. However, these laws have expanded in many countries to make people with chronic physical and psychological suffering eligible for state-assisted suicide.
In the U.S., assisted suicide, recast as “death with dignity,” is legal in 14 states, with 14 more considering it in 2026.
In Europe, four EU countries (Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) allow physicians to euthanize patients. Germany, Italy and Austria allow doctors to provide lethal drugs but require the patient to take them themselves. Other European countries, including France, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia, are working on legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.