In an attempt to dissuade her 25-year-old daughter from euthanasia for the final time, Yolanda Castillo delivered a public message of heartache.Noelia Castillo Ramos, from Barcelona, will become the first citizen of Spain to undergo medically assisted suicide later today (26 Mar), having been approved by lawmakers on the grounds of her mental health.She’d first filed an application to legally end her life in 2024, following several suicide attempts made in the years prior.According to Evri Magaci, following one attempt two years prior, by which she jumped from a fifth-floor window, she was left paraplegic. Every day since, Noelia has battled ceaseless pain, which has also had a detrimental effect on her mental well-being.

Just months after her application was filed, the decision was unanimously approved by lawmakers, who had legalised voluntary euthanasia and assisted death for Spanish citizens in March 2021.
Her father’s legal objectionNoelia’s father brought the proceedings to a halt in 2024 after filing a legal objection, however, claiming she battled from a personality disorder that affects her judgment and arguing ‘the obligation of the state to protect the lives of people, especially the most vulnerable’. His team also claimed in court in March 2025 that Noelia had changed her mind regarding euthanasia several times.Despite his pleas, a judge ruled in Noelia’s favour, insisting they’d observed ‘no evidence of a scientific or expert character has been presented to contradict the many medical reports which support the decision [to die]’.Following the ruling, Noelia’s mother also led an appeal, imploring her daughter to change her mind.