Trump Draws Backlash in Spain Over Alleged U.S. Inquiry Into Euthanasia of Noelia Castillo

Spain's government is pushing back against President Donald Trump after reports that the U.S. Embassy in Madrid may be gathering information about the euthanasia case of Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old woman whose death followed a lengthy legal battle.

Spain's Health Minister Mónica García publicly criticized Trump, accusing him of promoting a far-right agenda and interfering in a case that Spanish authorities insist was handled under strict legal and medical oversight

The story about a U.S. investigation on Castillo's death was first published by the New York Post, which claimed the U.S. Embassy in Madrid had begun gathering information about the euthanasia case. The 25-year-old Catalan woman whose death last week followed a nearly two-year legal fight. According to reporting in El País, García also insisted that Spain's euthanasia system operates within a strict legal and clinical framework.

"Spain is a serious country, with a solid health care system and a rights-based framework that protects and cares for all people, including those who decide to seek help to die with dignity in situations regulated by law, evaluated by clinical committees and endorsed by the courts," García said. She also told Trump to stop "sticking his nose everywhere" while "feeding the international ultra agenda," framing the controversy as part of a broader ideological offensive against Spain's euthanasia law.

Catalonia's regional president, Salvador Illa, also defended the medical professionals involved in the case.

Illa said authorities would firmly support health workers against "malicious attacks" questioning their professionalism and conduct. Catalan government sources told the newspaper they viewed both the latest legal complaint from the ultra-Catholic group Abogados Cristianos and the information coming out of the United States as part of a wider campaign to discredit Spain's euthanasia law.

Castillo's case had already become one of the most closely watched euthanasia battles in Spain. According to her own words, she became paraplegic after a 2022 suicide attempt that followed severe trauma, including sexual violence. Catalonia's Commission of Guarantee and Evaluation approved her request for euthanasia in July 2024, concluding that she had an irreversible clinical condition that caused serious dependency, pain, and chronic, disabling suffering.

Her father, Gerónimo Castillo, represented by ultra-conservative Christian advocacy legal group Abogados Cristianos, fought to stop the procedure, arguing that she was not competent to make the decision, but medical evaluations and multiple courts, including the European Tribunal for Human Rights, sided with Castillo. She received euthanasia 601 days after it had first been scheduled.

After her death, Abogados Cristianos announced a new complaint against the doctor who handled the case, alleging misconduct and conflict of interest because the physician also served as a transplant coordinator at the hospital where Castillo was being treated.

This accusation has fueled misinformation online claiming euthanasia is being used as a tool to secure organ donations. Those processes are legally separate. According to Spanish Health Ministry data showing that in 2024, 63 people, or 14.79% of those who received euthanasia that year, also entered the organ donation program.

There is no legal standing in a Washington probe into a Spanish and European judicial decision.