Episode 140: The Killing of Noelia Castillo

Noelia Castillo, a 25-year-old Spanish woman, was killed by euthanasia on March 26th in Barcelona. Her case gained worldwide prominence due to Noelia’s status as the first person granted to die of euthanasia in Spain due to mental health issues.We discuss the case, euthanasia’s knock on effects on other services, the UK’s defeat of proposed assisted suicide laws, and how euthanasia laws are an acceptance of institutional failure. Plus,  Anna Khachiyan’s dehumanisation of Noelia in the final hours of her life, pre-Christian Europe’s relationship with death, the book Do Not Go Gentle, and why Noelia’s life need not have been one tragedy after another.