A 25-year-old Spanish woman died by euthanasia on Thursday, March 26, ending a lengthy legal dispute with her father over her right to die.
Noelia Castillo, who lived in Barcelona, had been paralysed since 2022 following a previous suicide attempt.
The Catalan government initially approved her request for assisted dying in mid-2024, but the procedure was delayed after her father filed a last-minute legal challenge.
Backed by the conservative campaign group Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers), her father argued that Castillo’s judgment was impaired by a personality disorder.
The group said on X, “The key to Noelia’s case: her problem is psychiatric, not physical. Constitutional Court (STC 94/2023): euthanasia cannot be applied when the source of suffering is a mental illness. The State has an obligation to protect these individuals from the risk of suicide.”
Despite these objections, the legal battle concluded this week, allowing the euthanasia procedure to proceed. Abogados Cristianos added, “Noelia has already undergone euthanasia. We ask for prayers for her soul and her family. May she rest in peace.”
In a final television appearance, Castillo spoke about her father’s efforts to stop her from accessing a “dignified death.”
She said, “He hasn’t respected my decision and never will. Nobody in my family is in favour. I am leaving and you are staying here with all the pain, but what about all the suffering I have endured over the years? I just want to leave 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.”
Castillo also shared her difficult personal history, including a childhood spent largely in care homes and two sexual assaults, one involving an ex-boyfriend and another at a nightclub.
These experiences contributed to public debate over her case. While her father cited them as evidence that her mental state was impaired, others said they formed part of the suffering she sought to end.
On X, Berenice Grejita wrote, “May God grant strength to her parents and family, and may God receive her into His protective arms where there is no more suffering. May she rest in peace.”