{"id":312993,"date":"2024-06-08T10:52:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-08T15:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=312993"},"modified":"2024-06-05T23:04:45","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T04:04:45","slug":"physically-healthy-woman-euthanasia-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/physically-healthy-woman-euthanasia-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"Physically healthy Dutch woman undergoes euthanasia for depression"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

A physically healthy 29-year-old woman in the Netherlands was euthanized last week due to depression, sparking international debate as to how lenient euthanasia laws should be.<\/p>\n

Zoraya ter Beek’s death on May 22 was legally sanctioned by the government due to her “unbearable mental suffering.” Per news reports<\/a>, she suffered from depression, autism, and borderline personality disorder \u2014 not a terminal illness, which is the standard requirement for most euthanasia approvals.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands approved euthanasia for psychiatric suffering in 2002. According to The Guardian<\/a>, it remains relatively rare, though the numbers are rising; in 2010 there were two cases of euthanasia due to\u00a0psychiatric suffering, while in 2023, there were 138, accounting for 1.5% of the country’s 9,068 euthanasia deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople think that when you\u2019re mentally ill, you can\u2019t think straight, which is insulting,\u201d ter Beek told The Guardian in an interview prior to her death. \u201cI understand the fears that some disabled people have about assisted dying, and worries about people being under pressure to die. But in the Netherlands, we\u2019ve had this law for more than 20 years. There are really strict rules, and it\u2019s really safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zoraya ter Beek’s story has made headlines because she was very public about her wish to die, giving numerous interviews and explaining that depression was the reason for her request. \u201cPeople want to be able to see that you are suffering. That you cry. But yes, I put on makeup and dress well when I go out,” she said<\/a>. “They only see me happily doing my thing, not on the days when I lie in bed all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

This admission, and the government’s stamp of approval on her euthanasia, is what makes the situation tragic \u2014 rather than receiving the critical mental health she needed, ter Beek was given the option to end her life. This isn’t the caring, compassionate death that so many assisted death proponents are advocating for; it’s a tragic admission of defeat.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the American Psychiatric Association took a stand<\/a> against assisted suicide and euthanasia for mental illness, stating, \u201cThe American Psychiatric Association, in concert with the American Medical Association\u2019s position on Medical Euthanasia, holds that a psychiatrist should not prescribe or administer<\/a>\u00a0any intervention to a non-terminally ill person for the purpose of causing death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stef Groenewoud, a healthcare ethicist at Theological University Kampen, told The Free Press<\/a> that he is worried about the uptick in euthanasia deaths for psychiatric reasons. \u201cI\u2019m seeing euthanasia as some sort of acceptable option brought to the table by physicians, by psychiatrists, when previously it was the ultimate last resort,\u201d he said. “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.”<\/p>\n

Theo Boer, a healthcare ethics professor at Protestant Theological University in Groningen, resigned after serving on the country’s euthanasia board from 2005 to 2014, saying<\/a>, \u201cIn those years, I saw the Dutch euthanasia practice evolve from death being a last resort to death being a default option.” As euthanasia deaths are continuing to rise for a variety of reasons, and advocates are working for more legalized death<\/a>, data appears to confirm Boer’s statement.<\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A physically healthy 29-year-old woman in the Netherlands was euthanized last week due to depression, sparking international debate as to how lenient euthanasia laws should be. Zoraya ter Beek’s death on May 22 was legally sanctioned by the government due to her “unbearable mental suffering.” Per news reports, she suffered from depression, autism, and borderline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":187030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[3067,20598,1303,498,1578,20600,20597,1305,10673,20596,20599],"yoast_head":"\nPhysically healthy Dutch woman undergoes euthanasia for depression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Zoraya ter Beek has died after requesting euthanasia; though the Dutch woman was not physically ill, she was still able to be killed.\" \/>\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\/physically-healthy-woman-euthanasia-depression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Physically healthy Dutch woman undergoes euthanasia for depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Zoraya ter Beek has died after requesting euthanasia; 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