A physically healthy 29-year-old woman was allowed to end her life through euthanasia in the Netherlands on the grounds of depression, sparking renewed debate about the sanctity of life and legislation. Source: CNA.
Zoraya ter Beek died by euthanasia on May 22. Despite being physically healthy, the woman from Oldenzaal, a town near the German border, chose to end her life due to mental health issues.
Only days before her death, Ms ter Beek told The Guardian: “People think that when you’re mentally ill, you can’t think straight, which is insulting.”
Diagnosed with depression, anxiety, trauma, and other issues, she was approved to die by assisted suicide for “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement,” as per the official Dutch Euthanasia Code.
Her case has reignited a contentious debate across Western countries. France is currently debating the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide, with President Emmanuel Macron pushing for new laws.
The Catholic Church has been consistently outspoken in its opposition to euthanasia.
Cardinal Willem Eijk, the archbishop of Utrecht, has previously commented on the implications of broadening euthanasia criteria in the Netherlands. In a 2020 interview with CNA, Eijk said: “The respect for the essential value of the life of a human being is eroded ever more in the last half a century, which was inescapable.”
The Dutch cardinal, who studied medicine and holds doctorates in medical bioethics and in philosophy, noted: ”For, once accepting the termination of life for a certain measure of suffering, one will always be confronted with the question of whether it should not also be allowed in suffering that is only a little bit less.”
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Netherlands permits euthanasia for physically healthy 29-year-old woman (By AC Wimmer, CNA)
