Noelia Castillo dies by euthanasia in Barcelona after lengthy legal battle

Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old woman from Barcelona, died by assisted dying on March 26, 2026, at a care center in Sant Pere de Ribes. Castillo became paraplegic in October 2022 after jumping from a fifth-floor window following a suicide attempt. She reported a history of trauma, including sexual assault and a childhood spent in care homes, and suffered from chronic, incapacitating pain. After a 601-day legal struggle, the Spanish Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights upheld her right to euthanasia, rejecting multiple appeals filed by her father with the support of the organization Abogados Cristianos. Her father and the religious organization argued she suffered from a personality disorder that impaired her judgment. Medical experts, however, independently assessed that she possessed the capacity to make her own decisions. The case has sparked significant debate in Spain regarding the legal and ethical boundaries of the 2021 euthanasia law.