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The Trump administration has reportedly launched an investigation into Spain's handling of the euthanasia case of Noelia Castillo, the 25-year-old Spanish woman who died last week after a lengthy legal battle to end her life on her own terms.

 

Spain's government has responded with barely concealed irritation, telling Washington in no uncertain terms to keep its nose out.

 

According to the New York Post, the State Department contacted the US Embassy in Madrid requesting information about how the case was handled and what decisions allowed the procedure to go ahead.

 

Anonymous US officials cited by the paper expressed concern about what they described as "numerous human rights violations" and questioned whether the system had done enough to protect a vulnerable person.

 

They also claimed that Noelia had expressed "doubts" about the procedure that were allegedly ignored, although no detail was provided to support that claim.

 

Spain's Health Minister Mónica García didn't take long to fire back.

 

"He should stop feeding the ultra-international agenda by sticking his nose into everything," she said on social media, referring to Trump.

 

"Spain is a serious country, with a solid healthcare system and a framework of rights that protects and cares for all people, including those who decide to ask for help to die with dignity in contexts regulated by law, evaluated by clinical committees, and upheld by the courts."

 

She also pointed out that thousands of Americans die every year without health insurance, "while Trump supports and carries out human rights violations between Gaza and Iran."

 

Adding to the confusion, the Spanish Ministry of Health stated it had received no formal communication whatsoever from the US government about the case, which rather raises the question of what exactly is going on in Washington.

 

What is clear is that Noelia's case went through every legal channel available. Her request for euthanasia was approved by Catalonia's independent Guarantee and Evaluation Commission in July 2024, and her right to die was upheld at every stage of a lengthy court process that went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights. At no point did any court find that she lacked the capacity to make her decision.

 

The president of the Christian Lawyers Foundation, José María Fernández, who had supported Noelia's father in opposing the procedure, said they had held out hope "until the very last moment" that she might change her mind.

 

He described the case as "a failure of the healthcare system," a view that Spain's government and its courts clearly do not share.

 

Image: US Embassy