Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old woman from Spain, won the legal battle against her father to be euthanized.
Following a lengthy legal battle initiated by her father, courts ultimately upheld Castillo’s right to die after a medical body in Catalonia approved her euthanasia request in 2024. Castillo’s case attracted widespread attention in Spain as her family’s legal fight played out. With euthanasia legalized in 2021 under specific criteria, her age, the public dispute, and her circumstances sparked debate before courts ruled in favor of her right to die.
“At last, I’ve managed it, so let’s see if I can finally rest now,” Castillo told Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 in an interview that aired Wednesday. “I just cannot go on anymore.
“I just want to go peacefully now and to stop suffering. That’s all … there’s nothing I want to do. I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything.
“I’ve always felt alone because I’ve never felt understood … before I applied for euthanasia, my world was a very dark place and I foresaw a very dark end. I had no aims, no goals, nothing – and I still don’t.”
Castillo’s father, who was represented by the conservative campaign group Christian Lawyers (Abogados Cristianos), claimed his daughter’s mental judgement was affected by the her personality disorder. He also pointed to “the obligation of the state to protect the lives of people, especially the most vulnerable, as is the case with a young person with mental health problems,” according to the BBC.
Eventually, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in Noelia Castillo’s favour. She was euthanized on Thursday in Barcelona.
Announcing her death by euthanasia on Thursday evening on X, Abogados Cristianos pointed her case “highlights the serious flaws” in Spain’s euthanasia law.
Speaking to Spanish television earlier that week, Castillo said her father had tried to legally block her decision to die with dignity. “He hasn’t respected my decision and never will,” she said.
“They’ve said I just lie in bed,” she added. “But I get up out of bed and I shower myself. And I put my makeup on by myself … I’ve managed to do it at last.
“Let’s see if I can rest now because I can’t go on. I can’t go on with this family, I can’t go on with the pain and I can’t go on with all the stuff that’s tormenting my mind.”
She described her difficult childhood, much of it spent in care homes, and said she had been sexually assaulted on several occasions. She said the first time was by her former boyfriend after she had taken sleeping pills, and later by several men in a separate incident.
Afterwards, she tried to take her own life by jumping from a building. She survived, but was left paralysed from the waist down and in constant pain, and needed to use a wheelchair.
Castillo had struggled with mental health problems since her teenage years and was later diagnosed with conditions including severe depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and borderline personality disorder. Medical assessments presented during her case described her suffering as persistent and unbearable.
Eighteen months later, she applied under Spain’s euthanasia law, introduced in 2021, and was granted permission to end her life after a lengthy legal battle.
“Nobody in my family is in favour,” she said. “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 said she had made the decision for herself and she did not want to be seen as “an example to anyone”.
She added: “I don’t want anyone to follow in my footsteps. I don’t want there to be people asking how the process works because they want euthanasia and they want to know how it’s done.
“I don’t want them to think about that. I just feel that my life is my life and that I’m not an example to anyone, be it for good or for ill. It’s just my life and that’s all there is to it.”
While her family was allowed to say their goodbyes, Castillo said she wanted to be alone when receiving the injection.
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