Catalonia to 'strongly' defend health workers after Trump calls for investigation into euthanasia case

The president of Catalonia, Salvador Illa, has assured that he will “strongly” defend Catalan healthcare professionals after the Trump administration called for an investigation into the euthanasia of a young woman in Garraf. 

According to the New York Post, the US State Department has asked the US embassy in Spain to open an investigation into the case and to express to the Spanish government its “concern” for the “systemic errors in human rights” that led to Noèlia Castillo’s medically assisted death, which occurred last Thursday, March 26. 

The American newspaper adds that the US State Department has also complained about “the laxity of Spanish immigration laws” as “culpable for the sexual assaults” that Noèlia said she had suffered.

Illa insisted that the Catalan authorities defend “the right to a dignified death” with “one of the most advanced and exemplary legal frameworks in the world.” Euthanasia has been legal in Spain since 2021.

The case was complicated further by her father's objection to the medically-assisted death, despite Noèlia herself calling for it for years. Earlier in March, a Barcelona court rejected the father's appeal against the authorization of euthanasia.