Dutch Woman Chooses Euthanasia Due To Untreatable Mental Health Struggles

https://www.ndtv.com/feature/zoraya-ter-beek-dutch-woman-chooses-euthanasia-due-to-untreatable-mental-health-struggles-5363964

by BloatedBeyondBelief

47 comments

  2. Ima guess a who lot of “freedom” loving peeps are going to complain here.

    Feel free to donate to mental health research instead and help prevent someone from reaching this point in the future instead.

  3. In my opinion, the freedom to choose for yourself is an unalienable right. If you live in a country that does not facilitate such measures, you can choose to end your life anyway. At least this way, it is done in a civil manner.

    And before you bring your religious beliefs into the conversation: they are your problem, and yours alone.

  4. This is heartbreaking. I hope in the future we will find ways to really help people with mental issues and looking back euthanasia will look like a lobotomy.

    Sadly for now it’s best what we have to offer for people who don’t see no other way than death. At least they rest in peace.

  5. The article is misleading. It doesn’t explain that the criteria are very exacting. It is estimated that 56% of all Dutch psychiatrists have had a request for euthanasia during their career, and that about 95% of all requests are rejected. This is for people whose suffering cannot be relieved.

    The six ‘due care’ criteria in the euthanasia act are the following. The physician must: (1) be satisfied that the patient’s request is voluntary and well-considered; (2) be satisfied that the patient’s suffering is unbearable and that there is no prospect of improvement; (3) inform the patient of his or her situation and further prognosis; (4) discuss the situation with the patient and come to the joint conclusion that there is no other reasonable solution; (5) consult at least one other physician with no connection to the case, who must then see the patient and state in writing that the attending physician has satisfied the due care criteria listed in the four points above; (6) exercise due medical care and attention in terminating the patient’s life or assisting in his/her suicide.

    When it concerns psychiatric suffering, an additional due care requirement applies. Based on jurisprudence and guidelines, a second opinion must be performed by an appropriate expert. This will usually be a psychiatrist working in an academic setting who specializes in the disorder the patient is suffering from (8).

  6. I don’t think that any one, especially not a weirdo in a funny costume has the right to tell anyone when they are allowed the check out. She made her choice, it is what it is.

  7. >she feels her mental illness is untreatable.

    That’s pretty different from what the headline says

  8. The fact that there is a rise in these requests (despite denials) makes me feel like its some kind of decision that it’s cheaper to kill off the mentally ill than invest in actual facilities. Had a friend once who said her doctor straight up told her “you’re too complicated” to be treated.

    Which made me VERY glad there was 1000km between me, that doctor, and a long frank discussion about their career.

  9. There are some questions about the circulation of this article. Interviews with her have previously only appeared in lifestyle magazines before they started circulating today in questionable media sources like NDTV above and are now being picked up by American right-wing sites.

    It is very strange that this story has more foreign circulation than in the Netherlands itself, in any source, and none in any news sources. So take this story with a grain of salt, lot of red flags here and very little information over her actual medical assessment beyond her own words.

    And just to be clear, I’m Belgian and support the right to euthanasia, but the timing of this post after a previous post on euthanasia today in the sub that drew controversy has got me suspicious.

  10. I fully support this. People shouldn’t be forced to live a life they don’t enjoy and there should be an option to have a professional, safe and painless euthanasia instead of risking failure, permanent damage or brain death. At the end of the day it’s my body, my choice. We shouldn’t even need a reason for legal euthanasia for anyone.

  11. I would like to know how long the proces has been, for how long she have had the desire.
    Autism / Borderline is a brutal combo….. I can understand that she would want to escape the pain it could possibly contain.

  13. I feel like this is the type of article autocracies would pull up to show how sick we have gotten in the West 😂

  14. Ngl, I kindof pitty the doctors who have to decide, whether its okay or not to euthanize you

  15. not this one, but there was some youtube channel of a dutch woman who had some mild mental health condition and documented her last year(?) living before euthanasia and it’s one of the saddest videos ive seen

  16. I am glad we have this possibility in the Netherlands. But people should realize it is still a very difficult and long process. I know more than one person who decided to take matters into their hands because a request for euthanasia was either denied or the process was taking too long.

  17. My mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she decided that when the pain became to much to handle she would choose to commit euthanasia. This was a heavily regulated process. So it’s not like you can just walk up to a doctor and ask for it on a whim. And ultimately it allowed her to choose the moment of her death, and it allowed us to say goodbye. I dread to think about what would have happened if euthanasia wasn’t available. She would have been consumed by cancer and we would have been forced to watch it happen. Knowing we can’t do anything to help her, and knowing there is no escaping from what is to come. I for one am glad this is legal in the Netherlands, it allowed my mother to die without suffering to much, and with some measure of dignity.

  18. Aren’t the majority of mental issues untreatable, we just deal with symptoms and don’t even often know what is wrong.

    We don’t have the tools or enough understanding of human brain.

    Psychiatry is basically – fill out some questions and tell me what is wrong and we guess what your problem may be.

  19. There was another case in Netherlands years ago…

  20. I just saw the headlines in the newspapers here in Switzerland, but the she’s in Netherlands, so it’s not the same law that we apply here for euthanasia aka assisted suicide. It’s extremely rare here that it gets approved for mental health issues, i got through the cases once and actually, all of them had body health problems too next to the mental health issues.

    Even for myself, i got bipolar disorder and that can’t be cured, but i’m rather stable with treatment and meds. So i’d get refused, i actually thought about this in some episodes of depression, but it’s not enough. I still say, if i ever get something like cancer, then i’ll go through with euthanasia.

  21. Anyone who fears that just about anyone can just go and get euthanasia, no you can not. My father has ALS. All the paperwork has been submitted in januari. All the docters agree, it is inhumane how my dad lives atm. But it is april now and his case has not even been viewed yet. The proces is long and strict, which is good. But for my dad in this case it does take too long

  22. At 28 though. She must really going through hell to have come to this conclusion and for doctors to agree. But her age makes me uneasy about this

  23. Euthanasia is a human right. All the criticism is religious. Religions fetishize suffering. A calm and painless death for someone who is suffering immensely is an act of mercy.

  25. Legalize psychedelics to reduce suffering of the human life. What are you waiting politicians?

  26. The article, and the language used, makes me wonder about autism acceptance in the Netherlands, and what attitudes are like there. I remember seeing a documentary some years ago about the state of autism treatment in France at the time, and being disgusted at the way an EU country relegated pediatric autism to weird Freudians who would be considered quacks in most of the developed world.

    For those who have insight, how do clinical and popular attitudes toward autism in the Netherlands compare to other countries?

  27. I don’t claim to understand the reasons behind her decision, but I do think that people should be offered the chance to do psilocybins or LSD before going through with eutanasia due to mental health issues. I’m not disillusioned or naive in thinking that it would be some wonder drug miraculously helping all the people in such difficult pain and agony. But somehow it still bothers me if we will never know if at least a handful of those people could have been helped by it.

  29. I am honestly kind of shocked by the responses in this thread.

    I do agree euthanasia should be possible, but only for someone terminally ill (as in late-stage cancer) who knows that they have only a few months left to live anyway and they waste those away by being drugged to the gills only to make their suffering bearable.

    That is a very different thing from arguing for euthanasia of someone mentally ill, who can get better over time.
    Yes, many mental illnesses are uncurable, but that does not mean that they are untreatable.

    And no, in that case it is not *her* choice, because she is suffering from an illness that affects her mind, was she not in a dark place right now, she would think differently (I know this sounds like a truism, but it isn’t, since she is quite clearly not of a sound mind at this point in time)

    If you argue that you just want to reduce suffering in the world, find a plague that kills without pain and infect the entire population -> suffering goes to zero, since no one is alive anymore.

    That however is not a valid option as most of you would probably agree, since life can be full of joy and fullfillment, even if it might be painful sometimes.

    tl/dr: this is a tragedy heralded as “freedom of choice” and it honestly saddens me to see.

  31. Can’t believe we still don’t have that inalienable right in France. We are so late on so many things due to conservatives, especially religious ones.

    Tho I’m envious, I’m glad some people have the right to choose and can see an end to their suffering.

  32. personally i’m super uncomfortable with this topic and i’d never ever want to do this, but that doesn’t mean i want to ban it for those who do. suicidal people will always find a way. one is civil, and one is likely traumatic for someone else. why not give them the civil option to die as they wish, surrounded by their loved ones?

  33. Good for her. That was her decision. Who am I to judge.

  34. I honestly feel that euthanasia is for the ones with physical excruciating symptoms. Mental health seems like murder 😢

  36. In the UK we have the ridiculous state of affairs where people must suffer with no right to voluntary death, allow an animal to suffer in the same way and you would rightly end up in prison.

  38. As someone with autism (asperger) and not borderline but OCD, I understand her decision. It’s very hard to live with autism, and euthanasia is something I’ve considered myself as a possibility.

  39. I welcome the possibility to offer people a different exit strategy than jumping from a bridge or in running front of a train.

  40. Anyone who knows about the Werther Effect will be aware that assisted dying creates a social contagion effect

  41. How does this play out with lift insurance policies? Just curious

  42. Just like the Germans before them, it seems the Dutch find it easier to kill their mentally ill then properly help them.

  43. Every person should have the right to end thier own life on their own term. Even if you where a healthy 25 year old or a 90 year old. Its your life and you should have that option if you decide you want to end it.

  44. She sounds like a narcissist who craves attention and others feeling guilty for her. Typical BPD. Feel sorry for her boyfriend, hope he moves on quickly

  45. Neo-liberalism is the only mental illness she needed treated

  46. Here come the “people” that think someone should suffer because life is worth living.

Leave a Reply