A 24 year old physically healthy Belgian has been given permission to legally commit suicide because she claims to have had suicidal thoughts right from childhood.
She has no life threatening diseases but has been told she qualifies for euthanasia after she told doctors, “life, that’s not for me.”
Assisted suicide has been legal in Belgium since 2003 and it is estimated that each day five people die with the help of medics. The number of Belgians who have chosen to commit suicide has risen 27 per cent over the past year .
The woman identified only as ‘Laura’ has told reporter she has wanted to die since she was a child. She said she was from an unplanned pregnancy and because of a troubled home life with an alcoholic father, had been raised by her grandparents who were the only people who had ever given her ‘security, peace, and structure,’ .
Laura said she has enjoyed the process of planning her funeral and has enjoyed the process even though she knows her grandparents and her mother will be distressed by her death.
She has been in a psychiatric institution since aged 21 where she had been befriended by a suicidal girl who had committed assisted suicide 18 months ago.
“Even though my childhood certainly contributed to my suffering, I am convinced that I had this death wish even though I grew up with a quiet, stable family,” said Laura.
“Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful. I played all my life with these thoughts of suicide, I have also done a few attempts. But then there is someone who needs me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone. That has always stopped me.”.
Stay Connected
