Help Save Belén: Benalmadena appeal raises hard questions about euthanasia

A homeless woman living in a car in Benalmadena has reportedly requested euthanasia, prompting a local association to launch an urgent appeal for money to help her access medical and psychological care and find somewhere safe to live.

Belén says spinal surgery has left her unable to work and in severe pain. With no regular income, she struggles to afford some of her treatment and sleeps curled up inside a small car.

Now El Vuelo de las Libélulas, a Benalmadena association supporting her, is asking the public to help raise €13,000 towards an adapted old van or motorhome that could give her a place to call home. The group is also seeking support to fund the medical and psychological care it believes could help improve her situation.

The appeal raises a difficult question: when someone wants to end their life while facing pain, poverty and homelessness, what responsibility does society have to make sure they have other options?

‘Nobody should decide not to live because they are suffering’

María, president of El Vuelo de las Libélulas, contacted Euro Weekly News on October 15 to ask for publicity to help prevent Belén from deciding to die. “Today she requested euthanasia,” María wrote, explaining that Belén had nowhere to live.

In a subsequent social media post, the association said a national television programme presented by Jorge Javier Vázquez had also contacted the group. The post did not confirm whether Belén would appear on the programme or when any broadcast might take place.

Despite the growing attention, donations remain limited. The association reported receiving just €10 through Bizum in one update, while another post thanked supporters for bringing the total to €130 towards the €13,000 target.

Its campaign uses the hashtag #ElPuebloAyudaABelén, meaning “The people help Belén”. “Nobody should decide not to live because they are suffering,” the association wrote, adding that it hoped to find someone willing to donate an old vehicle that could be adapted into a home. Readers can follow the appeal through the official Facebook page of El Vuelo de las Libélulas.

Living in a car with severe pain

Belén previously described her circumstances in an interview with Área Costa del Sol. She said her life changed after an operation on her spine and that, before her health problems, she had managed to hold down three jobs.

She now says her physical limitations prevent her from returning to work. She describes sleeping curled up in a small car and needing to lie flat to ease her pain. Treatment has also become difficult to afford. Belén told the local outlet that pain-relief patches cost €33 for around 20 days, a sum she cannot currently pay.

Her application for Spain’s Minimum Living Income was rejected after a reported nine-month wait, according to her account. She says she was told that her place of residence could not be established, despite being registered through social services because she had no home. She has also started the process of seeking official recognition of her disability.

El Vuelo de las Libélulas has been helping with food and practical support. Belén has described the association’s members as the people who have stood by her during her most difficult moments.

Should someone be helped to die when help to live is missing?

Spain legalised euthanasia in 2021 under Organic Law 3/2021, published in the Official State Gazette. The legislation sets medical eligibility requirements and safeguards, including the need for a qualifying serious, incurable illness or serious, chronic and disabling condition that causes intolerable suffering.

A request is not the same as formal approval, and homelessness or poverty alone does not qualify someone for assisted dying. Belén’s eligibility and the status of any application have not been established by the information available for this article.

The debate is not confined to Spain. Canada’s assisted-dying system has attracted huge controversy over cases in which patients have cited social isolation, housing insecurity or inadequate support. An Associated Press investigation into Canada’s MAiD system examined concerns raised by medical professionals about vulnerable people seeking assisted death while facing serious social difficulties.

Supporters of assisted dying argue that people experiencing intolerable suffering should retain autonomy over decisions about their own lives. Critics worry that people who cannot obtain adequate treatment, housing or disability support may feel that death is their only realistic option. Readers can also find background in Euro Weekly News’ with its coverage of Spain’s euthanasia debate following Noelia Castillo Ramos’s case.

Belén’s circumstances raise a difficult question: how can society respect a person’s choices while ensuring that a lack of basic support does not leave them feeling they have no alternative?

How to help Belén

El Vuelo de las Libélulas is appealing for €13,000 towards an adapted old van or motorhome that could provide Belén with somewhere to live. The association has also described a wider need for medical and psychological support.

Anyone wishing to help can contact the group through its official Facebook page to request the current donation details and clarify how contributions will be used.

The campaign’s message is simple: no one on the Costa del Sol should feel that poverty has left them with no way forward.

For Belén, the immediate hope is that practical support, treatment and somewhere safe to live can offer alternatives while her circumstances are addressed. For the wider community, her story poses a question that cannot be answered by money alone: what does a society owe someone who has reached the point of asking to die?