A “physically healthy” woman in the Netherlands is scheduled to be euthanized by the Dutch government.
28-year-old Zoraya ter Beek from Twente, Netherlands, is scheduled to be killed by the government’s “assisted suicide” program in May.
Doctors told Beek that euthanasia is now the only option because her autism and depression will “never get better.”
The young woman once aspired to become a psychiatrist.
However, she couldn’t finish her studies because she was struggling with depression and autism.
For ten long years, she tried all possible solutions from therapy to medications to improve her condition.
Euthanasia has been legal in The Netherlands since 2002.
So-called “assisted suicide” still remains illegal in many Western nations, despite being advanced in several countries such as Canada, Switzerland, and Belgium.
In fact, Canada, which expanded its laws to include mental health and poverty, recently euthanized a 27-year-old woman for autism.
The highly controversial practice remains a hotly debated topic.
Campaigners claim it frees people from pain.
However, critics warn it could be abused or see people pressured into dying as part of a wider eugenics agenda.
Under Dutch law, a patient qualifies for an assisted death after they have exhausted all reasonable treatments and can prove they have “unbearable suffering without prospect of improvement”.
Zoraya lost hope for recovery after her psychiatrist told her “there’s nothing more” they could do to treat her pain.
“It’s never gonna get any better,” she claims her doctor told her.
At that moment, Zoraya decided to cut her life short – even if it meant leaving her beloved 40-year-old boyfriend and two cats behind.
She will be administered a sedative and a drug to stop her heart – and has chosen to die at home.
Zoraya’s intense struggles saw her start to wear a “do-not-resuscitate” badge around her neck.
She said: “I don’t see it as my soul leaving, but more as myself being freed from life.
“I’m a little afraid of dying because it’s the ultimate unknown.
“We don’t really know what’s next – or is there nothing?
“That’s the scary part.”
Zoraya told the Free Press:
“I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore.”
But she had to wait two-and-a-half years for her request to be approved, and then another six to 12 months to ensure she met all the legal conditions for euthanasia.
During the long waiting time, she said she never doubted her decision, saying if it was rejected, she would “probably do it herself.”
Once she had gone through the steps, Zoraya chose the date of her death which falls in May.
She doesn’t want any fuss and plans to take her last breath on a sofa in her living room, with no music and just her boyfriend by her side.
She explained: “The doctor really takes her time.
“It is not that they walk in and say: lay down, please.
“Most of the time it is first a cup of coffee to settle the nerves and create a soft atmosphere.
“Then she asks if I am ready.
“I will take my place on the couch.
“She will once again ask if I am sure, and she will start up the procedure and wish me a good journey.
“Or, in my case, a nice nap, because I hate it if people say, ‘Safe journey.’
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Zoraya – who doesn’t have much family – said there won’t be any funeral.
Instead, she wishes to be cremated after her death and already picked “a nice spot in the woods” where her ashes will be scattered.
As Zoraya approaches her last day, she told RTL Nieuws: “I don’t want to die, but I can’t live.
“Then it’s a choice between growing old, sick, and with a lot of misery, or honoring myself and saying: I’m quitting.”
Euthanasia is usually a last resort for terminally ill patients.
However, it has recently become a “default option” for people with mental health issues.
More people are turning to euthanasia as a legal way to escape depression, anxiety, and concerns about economic uncertainty.
In 2017, out of 6,585 deaths from euthanasia in the Netherlands, 84 were on the grounds of psychiatric suffering.
Critics blasted the practice for encouraging people like Zoraya to kill themselves rather than live in pain.
Experts argue that the symptoms can be treated with ongoing care.
However, critics warn that governments are pushing for euthanasia as a cost-saving measure over expensive long-term treatments, especially in countries with socialist healthcare systems.
Stef Groenewoud, a healthcare ethicist at Theological University Kampen, told the Free Press:
“I see the phenomenon, especially in people with psychiatric diseases, and especially young people with psychiatric disorders, where the healthcare professional seems to give up on them more easily than before.”
Critics blame “suicide contagion” on a social media glamorization of suicide and radical right-to-die activists who advocate for the freedom to kill ourselves when our lives are “complete.”
Nevertheless, some doctors believe euthanasia is an acceptable alternative as they view suicidal patients as people with terminal illnesses.
Kit Vanmechelen told BBC:
“I’ve treated patients that I knew were going to commit suicide.
“So to have euthanasia as an alternative makes me very grateful we have a law.
“The ones I know will commit suicide are terminal in my opinion.
“And I don’t want to abandon my patients who are not able to go on with their lives.”
