Some weeks it is more difficult to find happiness in the news than others. This past week my heart broke for a woman named Noelia Castillo Ramos, a young woman of 25 from Spain. It’s alleged she was brutalized, possibly on two or three occasions. After the last degrading incident in October 2022, in desperation she jumped from a building to bring an end to her psychological torment, only to survive with partial paralysis and chronic pain.
A policy in the country known as the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia is available to put an end to interminable suffering, and Noelia applied in 2024 for the right to decide her own fate. Her petition was challenged by her father and a group of Christian lawyers who argued that she did not have the mental clarity to make such a decision. Three courts overruled the father’s protests. In one of her last interviews, Noelia said the decision was personal, and she did not want to appear as a torch bearer for euthanasia as a solution for anybody else but herself under her circumstances.
On Thursday, March 26, Noelia voluntarily received an infusion of intravenous drugs designed to bring about a painless end. Her mother and a close friend were denied entry to be with her. She chose to leave life by herself.
Of the more than 1100 people in Spain who chose euthanasia, only two were younger than her by 2-3 years.
It’s not just the tragedy of somebody departing this world so young and aware of what tortures this life can bring, but the fact that none of the alleged assailants were ever brought to trial. There also remain questions about quality of life when the mind is clouded by images of inhuman indulgences and the body bombarded by jolts of pain from within (or worse, rendered lifeless by the disconnect of nerves and muscle response).
Why is it we are so used to hearing about man’s inhumanity to man, yet we balk at some people’s attempts to humanely bring an end to themselves? Who are we to determine that one or the other is more abominable? Noelia’s suffering is over, and several men who hastened her end are walking free for all we know, when they are the true criminals.
We cannot find more happy news if we ignore and do nothing about the bad news.
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