Noelia Castillo Ramos | Spanish gang-rape victim, 25, dies by euthanasia after emotional family farewell

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

Noelia Castillo Ramos passed away at Sant Camil Hospital approximately 20 minutes after receiving the first of three injections, according to reports.

The procedure involved two initial injections to induce deep sedation, followed by a third, more potent dose that caused cardiac arrest. The process was designed, in the words of those who approved it, to "ensure a death without suffering."

Her final hours were spent surrounded by those she loved most.

Her mother Yolanda spent the night before the procedure by her daughter's side, while her father Geronimo, siblings and maternal grandmother visited earlier in the day.

Before the procedure began, Noelia asked for additional time with her family, who stayed longer than planned before she was ultimately left alone with the attending doctor.

She died at her own request, with only the medic present.

In interviews given in the days before her death, Noelia was clear-eyed about her decision. "I just want to go in peace and stop suffering," she told Spanish network Antena 3.

"I've always thought I want to die beautiful — I'll put on my prettiest dress and make-up."

She was equally frank about the loneliness that had defined much of her life.

"I have always felt alone, I have never felt understood, and no one has ever empathised with me," she said.

Noelia's story is one of compounding tragedy.

After her parents divorced, she received psychiatric treatment as a teenager and later entered care.

She suffered two sexual assaults, including a gang rape at a nightclub that she did not report to police.

A suicide attempt on October 4, 2022, following that attack left her with a severe and irreversible spinal cord injury. She relied on a wheelchair and endured chronic, intense pain that disrupted her sleep.

She had also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and an obsessive compulsive disorder.

Under Spain's 2021 euthanasia laws, her condition was classified as "serious, chronic and disabling."

Courts determined her decision was "free, conscious and informed," a ruling that survived a legal challenge brought by her father, backed by the conservative Christian Lawyers group that reached the European Court of Human Rights.

Her mother, who opposed the decision throughout, said: "I am not in favour of euthanasia, of course I am not, but I will always be by her side until the very last moment."

Spain legalised euthanasia in 2021 for adults experiencing chronic or invalidating suffering.