A Spanish woman in her 20s who suffered from sexual assault ended her life after being approved for euthanasia after a legal battle with her family.
According to the Associated Press on the 26th (local time), Spanish woman Noelia Castillo passed away at the age of 25 in Barcelona after receiving euthanasia medication.
The Castillo family’s legal battle is a case that attracted national attention in Spain two years ago.
Castillo, who suffered from mental illness since she was a teenager, attempted to take her own life after experiencing sexual assault. The attempt ended in failure, but during the second suicide attempt, he was injured and his legs became paralyzed.
Starting in 2021, Spain will allow physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia for terminally ill patients and people with intolerable permanent illnesses. Accordingly, in April 2024, Castillo requested euthanasia from an independent Catalan organization comprised of doctors, lawyers, and bioethics experts.
The organization granted approval after determining that Castillo was suffering from a severe and chronic mental breakdown and was suffering from a serious terminal illness.
However, final approval was put on hold due to opposition from the family. Attorney Polonia Castellanos, representing Castillo’s father, put the brakes on the implementation of euthanasia, arguing that “Castillo cannot decide whether to end his own life due to mental illness.”
However, the Catalan Regional Court, the Barcelona Court, and the Spanish Supreme Court all rejected the father’s appeal, and Castillo’s right to euthanasia was recognized last January.
In a recent interview with Antenna 3 Internacional, Castillo said, “I just want to leave in peace and stop the pain,” and expressed doubts about the legal battle, “None of them like me. But is the happiness of the father or mother more important than the daughter’s wishes?”
Regarding the decision to approve euthanasia, lawyer Ancastellanos said, “It is evidence of the failure of the law. It must be abolished urgently. We know that the ‘euthanasia law’ is a law for very extreme cases, that is, people who are almost dying from a serious illness, but in this case, it was used to take the life of a young girl who was only 25 years old.”
Meanwhile, according to the UK-based human rights group Dignity in Dying, Spain is one of nine European countries that have enacted laws to allow people experiencing unbearable pain to choose assisted suicide. In Spain, since the related law was enacted, a total of 1,123 people have committed suicide by drugs by 2024.
*If you have concerns that are difficult to talk about, such as depression, or if you have family or acquaintances around you who are experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour expert counseling from the suicide prevention hotline ☎109 or the SNS counseling center Madelan (an online friend who listens to your heart).
Reporter Seo Hee-won shw@etnews.com
