{"id":212474,"date":"2019-10-16T15:15:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-16T20:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=212474"},"modified":"2019-10-16T00:19:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T05:19:13","slug":"healthy-23-year-woman-euthanasia-mental-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/healthy-23-year-woman-euthanasia-mental-illness\/","title":{"rendered":"Physically healthy 23-year-old woman seeks euthanasia for mental illness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A 23-year-old Belgian woman, Kelly, told the Daily Mail<\/a> that she is seeking to legally end her life through euthanasia on account of her mental health struggles. The article describes Kelly as \u201cplagued by mental health problems\u201d leading her to seek \u201cto die as soon as legally possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belgium is one of three countries with legal assisted suicide and does not distinguish between mental and physical pain. Because of this, Kelly is not the first person suffering from mental illness to seek legal assisted suicide. A physically healthy 24-year-old Belgian woman<\/a> with suicidal thoughts was approved for euthanasia. In the Netherlands, a 29-year-old Aurelia Bowers<\/a> was one of 83 people killed by assisted suicide for mental illness.<\/p>\n

According to the Daily Mail<\/a>, \u201cMental health patients account for about three per cent of the 17,000 people killed since the law was changed in this country of 11 million citizens. There were 2,357 deaths last year \u2013 ten times as many as in the first year euthanasia was legal in Belgium\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly, according to the Daily Mail, has “attempted suicide, was hospitalised, suffered eating disorders and started to self-harm,” claiming, “It was easier to feel the pain from self-harm then the pain in my head. At least the pain from self-harm goes away, unlike the pain inside that is always there.”<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Horrific: 3 children killed in Belgium since child euthanasia was made legal<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disturbingly, Kelly learned it was possible for her to apply for euthanasia from a psychologist in the hospital where she was undergoing treatment. Despite immediately making plans to pursue assisted suicide, Kelly did not tell her parents with whom she lives, her identical twin sister, or younger siblings about her plans to end her life until after seeking out psychiatrists to confirm her mental pain is \u201cunbearable and untreatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Kelly did finally inform her family of her plans, she says, \u201cMy father was very shocked, he cried and I grabbed him. I was almost crying, too. It was very moving but also painful to see him like that.\u201d Her father\u2019s reaction is not uncommon for the families of people seeking to end their lives<\/a> through assisted suicide, though often the families\u2019 pain and grief is not discussed.<\/p>\n

As many psychiatrists have pointed out, for people suffering from mental health issues, their condition can improve over time with treatment. Offering death as a \u201csolution\u201d to mental suffering does not relieve the sufferer\u2019s mental anguish; it merely ends his or her life.<\/p>\n

As the interviewer observed<\/a> of speaking with Kelly, \u201cIt was disturbing to talk in such an open manner about the possible death of someone so friendly and physically in their prime.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 23-year-old Belgian woman, Kelly, told the Daily Mail that she is seeking to legally end her life through euthanasia on account of her mental health struggles. The article describes Kelly as \u201cplagued by mental health problems\u201d leading her to seek \u201cto die as soon as legally possible.\u201d Belgium is one of three countries with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":210412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhysically healthy 23-year-old woman seeks euthanasia for mental illness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A 23-year-old Belgian woman, Kelly, told the Daily Mail that she is seeking to legally end her life through euthanasia due to her mental health struggles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/healthy-23-year-woman-euthanasia-mental-illness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" 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