Outrage over gang-rape victim Noelia Castillo being able to end her life against her family’s wishes has sparked a major legal battle to overhaul Spain’s controversial euthanasia laws to make it easier for relatives to intervene.
The group Christian Lawyers is fighting to amend the original 2021 law on behalf of Geronimo Castillo, whose 25-year-old daughter ended her life in a highly contentious case last month.
Under “Noelia’s Law,” the proposed changes would give family members the legal right to veto — or at least delay — the euthanasia process, Spanish outlet El País reported.
The group also wants to prohibit euthanasia on mental health grounds, after Castillo’s family argued that her depression and bipolar disorder made her incapable of making an informed decision to end her life.
Noelia Castillo’s death by euthanasia last month has sparked a campaign to change the law. Y ahora Sonsoles The amendments would force the Spanish state to provide “intensive psychiatric care” as a mandatory alternative before euthanasia can be considered for any patient under 30.
Judges in Spain’s Supreme Court will decide in the coming weeks whether to vote to make it harder or easier for patients to get euthanized.
Spain’s Ministry of Health and pro-euthanasia groups are proposing their own set of amendments — aiming to make it even harder for families to block the state from taking a patient’s life.
Castillo’s father, Geronimo, fought a two-year legal campaign to stop his daughter from ending her life. TikTok/noeliacastillo20003034 Their proposed changes would stop a judge from being able to “precautionarily” stop a euthanasia procedure solely on the complaints of a relative, and skip the current 15-day waiting period
Castillo—who was left paraplegic after jumping off a building in a suicide attempt following the assault—had applied for legal euthanasia under Spain’s 2021 law and was permitted to do so despite an almost two-year legal campaign by her father.
In the coming weeks, Spain’s Supreme Court is set to rule over another highly controversial euthanasia case, that of Francesc Auge.
Auge, 55, requested the procedure in July 2024 after suffering serious strokes and heart attacks.
His elderly father has been appealing against it ever since, despite the first court denying his right to file a claim.
Castillo went into harrowing details of three separate sex attacks days in a final interview days before she ended her life.
As outrage spread, the Trump administration vowed to investigate Castillo’s death, slamming Spain for “human rights failures.”
On the defensive, Spain accused President Trump of “sticking his nose” where it didn’t belong in a petulant response from its left-wing government.
