A friend of a gang rape victim who died by euthanasia came to a Spanish hospital an hour before her death in hopes of convincing her to live.
Warning: This article contains disturbing content.
Noelia Castillo Ramos, 25, died by euthanasia at the Barcelona care facility where she lived on Thursday evening.
She was raped on two occasions, once by her ex-boyfriend and the second time by three boys in 2022, after which she jumped from a fifth-floor window of an apartment building in an attempt to end her life.
The fall left her paralyzed from the waist down, and according to her medical records, she suffered from severe, chronic and incapacitating pain with no possibility of improvement.
Noelia requested euthanasia in 2024, but her father blocked the process, taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights, where it was dismissed earlier this month.
Read more: Gang rape victim dies by euthanasia after two-year legal battle
Euthanasia was scheduled for 5 pm on Thursday. An hour earlier, Carla Rodríguez, who said she was Noelia’s best friend, arrived at Barcelona’s residential care hospital and asked to see Noelia, hoping to change her mind.
A cordon was set up to prevent dozens of people who had come to protest Noelia’s euthanasia from reaching the facility and disrupting the process. The security personnel also refused to let his friend go.
“I wanted to try to convince him to change his mind,” Ms Rodriguez told the Spanish outlet tearfully. okdiario.
Ms Rodriguez said she and Noelia had grown up together and were classmates at a local school. They lost contact “when Noelia was transferred to a different care facility”.
Carla Rodriguez, Noelia’s childhood friend. Photo: okdiario
She learned of Noelia’s decision to die on the news and hoped to convince her friend to let her live by telling her about the “wave of affection and solidarity” on social media, where many people commented on Noelia’s case.
“Noelia has been through a lot,” Ms. Rodriguez said, crying. He left a handwritten letter for Noelia’s mother, asking her to meet his friend and offer assistance.
‘I want to die alone’
Noelia said this in a Spanish TV program Y Ahora Sonsols In her only interview she said that she wanted to be alone at the time of her death.
“I told them the family could come to say goodbye, but not when they were going to give me the injection,” he said.
She also expressed her wish, “I want to die looking beautiful, I want to die looking beautiful”, adding that she would wear her most beautiful dress and wear little makeup.
Many people were seen praying outside the care home where Noelia died. Photo: Europa Press/AP
Noelia had intended to take four photographs with her to her death: one of them a portrait of her mother, one of her childhood puppy, another of her first day of school and a fourth of her childhood, which she said reflected the “happy” moments of her life.
“I want to go in peace now and stop the suffering,” she said, adding that she was “very clear” about her wish to die from the beginning.
While her mother, Yolanda “Yoli” Ramos, told the Spanish broadcaster earlier this week that she hoped her daughter would change her mind, she promised to be with her “until the end.”
Noelia had been undergoing psychiatric treatment since her parents separated when she was 13 years old. She was eventually diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD).
Her father watched as she tried to take her own life in October 2022, but Noelia said she “no longer feels sorry for him” after launching a legal challenge to prevent his euthanasia.
Noelia’s father fought for euthanasia for two years
Her euthanasia request was initially approved by a special expert committee in Catalonia in July 2024, with the process scheduled for 2 August 2024, but her father has since blocked it.
Geronimo Castillo, supported by the ultra-Orthodox advocacy group Abogados Cristianos, or Christian Lawyers, argued that Noelia’s mental illness weakened her ability to decide to end her life.
During an almost two-year-long legal battle, he took the case to the Spanish courts until the highest tribunal rejected his argument in February. According to the newspaper, Mr Castillo appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, where his request for interim measures to prevent Noelia’s euthanasia was rejected on March 10. el pas.
Two women pray at the entrance to St. Camille Hospital before Noelia’s euthanasia. Photo: AP
In a last-ditch effort, her legal team on Wednesday asked an investigating court investigating Noelia’s medical-legal team to initiate “immediate precautionary measures” to prevent her euthanasia, but a judge rejected the request due to lack of jurisdiction.
Members of the Christian Lawyers advocacy group were among those who protested Noelia’s euthanasia outside the facility.
Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK for help.
Alternatively, you can call Mind’s support line on 0300 102 1234 or the NHS on 111.
In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK.
