Noelia Castillo, Barcelona paraplegic gang rape victim dies by assisted suicide after dad exhausts final legal challenge to stop euthanasia. Case highlights ongoing ethical and legal debates surrounding assisted dying, mental health, and patient autonomy in countries where euthanasia is legal.
A paraplegic gang-rape victim in Spain has died by euthanasia after her father exhausting all legal avenues to stop the assisted suicide going through.
Noelia Castillo, 25 of Barcelona, was left paralyzed following a failed suicide attempt after a reported gang sexual assault in 2022. The traumatized woman had jumped from the fifth-floor window of an apartment building during a cocaine-fueled attempt to end her own life in October 2022 after previously overdosing on medication, according to legal rulings.
The fall left Castillo paralysed from the waist down, and left her suffering severe, chronic and incapacitating pain with no possibility of improvement according to medical reports.
A history of mental disorder
Noelia had been in psychiatric treatment since she was 13 and her parents separated. She was eventually diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
By the time of the gang rape, it was the second sexual assault she suffered in recent years, one at the hands of a former boyfriend and the most recent at the hands of three young men.
Come Thursday night, the trauma, the torment, the physical disabilities all ended when Noelia died by euthanasia according to international reports.
Bid for assisted suicide leads to legal battle
The assisted suicide followed a long legal battle with her father, which ended with a ruling in her favor from the European Court of Human Rights.
‘I want to go now in peace and stop suffering, period,’ Noelia had told Spanish TV program Y Ahora Sonsoles
Noelia, who was living in a Barcelona care home, said she had been ‘very clear’ about her wish to die from the beginning.
‘None of my family is in favour of euthanasia. But what about all the pain I’ve suffered during all these years,’ she said.
‘The happiness of a father, a mother, or a sister cannot be more important than the life of a daughter.’
Moral dilemma of assisted suicide examined
Noelia’s euthanasia request was initially granted by a specialised expert committee in Catalonia in July 2024, with the procedure scheduled for 2 August 2024, but her father has blocked it ever since.
Geronimo Castillo, supported by the ultra-conservative advocacy group Abogados Cristianos or Christian Lawyers, argued that Noelia’s mental illness impaired her ability to decide to end her life.
During a nearly two-year-long legal battle, he took the case through Spain’s courts, finally reaching Spain’s highest tribunal, the Constitutional Court, in February. The court rejected his argument, ruling that there had been no violation of fundamental rights (moral or ethical dilemmas aside).
As the final instance, Mr Castillo took the case to the European Court of Human Rights, where his request for interim measures to stop Noelia’s euthanasia was rejected on 10 March, according to newspaper El Pais.
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As a last-ditch effort, his legal team on Wednesday asked an investigating court looking into Noelia’s medical-legal team to introduce ‘urgent precautionary measures’ to stop her euthanasia, but a judge rejected the request due to lack of jurisdiction.
‘I’ve finally done it,’ Noelia said, adding: ‘Let’s see if I can finally rest’.
Noelia said she ‘always felt alone’ and ‘saw my world as very dark’, even before requesting euthanasia. She added that she doesn’t feel like ‘doing anything’, has back and leg pain and said sleeping was ‘very difficult’.
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Leading up to her death, Noelia had said she wanted to ‘die looking pretty, I want to die beautiful’, adding that she would wear her prettiest dress and put on some makeup.
She said that while she had invited her family to say goodbye, she wanted to be alone in her bedroom at the care facility at the moment of her death.
She intended to have four photos with her for her death: one of her painting a portrait of her mother, one of her childhood puppy, another from her first day of school and a fourth from her childhood, which she said are reflecting ‘happy’ moments in her life.
In 2021, Spain became the fourth European Union country to legalise euthanasia and assisted suicide for people with incurable or severely debilitating conditions who wish to end their lives.
