The case of a young Spanish woman who wishes to end her life with state assistance has sparked international sympathy and horror. The Catholic Church has also spoken out.
The euthanasia case involving a 25-year-old woman is shocking Spain. Noelia Castillo, who has been paraplegic since a suicide attempt, is due to receive a lethal injection this Thursday evening, according to her own statements. “I want to go now and stop suffering – that’s it,” she announced in a sensational TV interview on the Antena 3 channel. Following a lengthy legal battle, the procedure is to take place in a care home in Barcelona.
Her father, in particular, tried until the very end, with the help of the organisation Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers), to keep his daughter alive through legal intervention. However, both the Spanish courts and the European Court of Human Rights ultimately rejected the appeals.
At the heart of the legal dispute was the question of whether Noelia Castillo is in fact capable of making decisions.
In the interview, she reiterated that she had been suffering from pain for years and wanted to finally bring her life to an end. Castillo grew up in difficult family circumstances and spent some time in state care at a youth home.
In 2022, she was the victim of a gang rape by underage perpetrators. This was followed by a failed suicide attempt; she has been in a wheelchair ever since. In 2024, she applied for assisted dying from the relevant authorities for the first time.
Criticism of liberal assisted dying law
The case has sparked sympathy and horror far beyond Spain, but also criticism of the assisted dying regulations introduced by the socialist government in 2021. On Thursday, the Catholic Church spoke of institutional failure. The Spanish Bishops’ Conference stated: “In this case, we are not dealing with an incurable illness, but with deep wounds that require attention, treatment and hope.” A lethal injection, it said, is not medical treatment, but a “deliberate severing of the bond of care and a social defeat”.
Since 2021, both assisted dying and assisted suicide have been permitted in Spain. The costs are covered by the state health insurance scheme. For doctors to be able to act in this way, several conditions must be met: patients must be of legal age and of sound mind. They must be suffering from incurable illnesses or severe chronic disabilities that cannot be alleviated by other means and are associated with “unbearable pain”.
The “Christian Lawyers” organisation, however, argues that the root cause of the suffering in Castillo’s case lies in a mental illness. “The state has a duty to protect those affected from the risk of suicide,” the organisation states.
