A report in March shared the story of a mental-health patient’s treatment and how she was ‘overwhelmed and angry’ when her new psychiatrist offered her euthanasia during their first appointment.
Manon, who was seeking help for post-traumatic stress disorder, was told she met the criteria to be euthanised. She said: ‘I was suicidal, but I was looking for the help that I had actually never obtained, help for the core of my deepest pain and sorrow, my trauma, my post-traumatic stress disorder’.
In the Netherlands, euthanasia is legal if the person is experiencing ‘hopeless and unbearable suffering’ and chooses to end their life. The doctor said Manon had already done ‘everything humanly possible’ to get treatment for her condition, which made Manon feel like she didn’t ‘deserve’ to continue living. She said she thought: ‘Yes, I’m broken, but I want to become whole again. I’m asking for help to get better, not for death!’
