THIS is the emotional moment a best friend wept outside a hospital, begging for one last chance to stop a gang rape victim before she died by euthanasia.
Heartbroken Carla Rodriguez arrived just an hour before Noelia Castillo Ramos’ final moments, desperate to change her mind.
But she was blocked by security and never got to say goodbye, according to Okdiario.
The distraught friend was seen sobbing at the entrance of the Spanish hospital as officers refused to let her through.
Carla told reporters outside: “I wanted to try to convince her to change her mind.”
She had rushed there after learning of Noelia’s decision in the news, determined to stop her at all costs, the outlet reported.
Read more on Noelia Ramos
“Noelia has been through so much – so very much,” she added.
The pair had grown up together and gone to school at Santa Eulalia before losing touch “when Noelia was transferred to a different care facility,” the friend said.
In a final act of love, Carla said she left a handwritten letter for Noelia’s mum, saying she was outside and ready to take her friend home.
It comes as Noelia, 25, died after receiving three injections at a hospital near Barcelona.
The first two jabs induced deep sedation and the third most potent one caused cardiac arrest.
She is understood to have passed away around 20 minutes after the first sedative injection.
Her mum, Yolanda Ramos, spent her final night by her side, despite desperately hoping her daughter would change her mind.
“I’ve been praying and thinking… hoping that at the last moment she’ll say ‘I regret it’,” she said.
Before she was euthanised, the 25-year-old is said to have asked her family to spend extra time with her before she was due to be left alone with a medic who administered her three injections.
Her family had earlier been granted extra time with her before the procedure began at around 6.30pm on Thursday.
The young woman had been left paralysed from the waist down after a suicide attempt in 2022.
She had jumped from a fifth-floor window after being raped by three men while in a state-supervised care facility.
Since then, she lived with constant pain.
“I want to go now and stop suffering, period,” Noelia previously said in an interview.
“I don’t feel like doing anything: not going out, not eating. Sleeping is very difficult, and I have back and leg pain.”
She also spoke about how she wanted to spend her final moments.
“I’ve always thought I want to die looking good. I’ll wear my prettiest dress and put on makeup; it will be something simple.”
Spain legalised euthanasia in 2021 for people suffering “chronic or invalidating” conditions.
Noelia had fought for years to be allowed to die by euthanasia, even battling her own dad in court.
Her father, Geronimo Castillo, had tried to block the procedure with the backing of a conservative legal group.
But courts rejected the challenge.
Noelia’s case was eventually approved after a long legal fight, with judges ruling her decision was “free, conscious and informed”.
Her mum, while not supporting euthanasia, stayed by her side until the end.
She said: “I am not in favour of euthanasia, of course I am not in favour, but I will always be by her side until the very last moment, as long as she allows me.”
In her final message, she told her daughter: “There’s nothing more I can do. If you decide to go ahead, I’ll be there for you, but if you change your mind, I’ll be there for the good times too.”
How to get help
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
