Depressed 24-Year-Old Belgian Woman Granted Right To Die By Euthanasia

A 24-year-old clinically depressed woman has been granted the right to end her own life by doctors in Belgium.

The woman named Laura told doctors she had suffered from depression since she was a child and wished to end her life.

Revise Euthanasia Law for Minors in the Netherlands: Dutch Pediatricians Association
Urging the suppression of the current 12-year age limit, pediatricians have requested that terminally ill children in unbearable suffering should be given the right to die.

“Life, that’s not for me. 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,” said Laura.

She claims that her troubled childhood had contributed to her long time death wish. “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.”

At the age of six, she had unknowingly picked up a loaded gun and thought about ending her life. “If I had known this at that time, I might have pulled the trigger. I can easily imagine.”

42-Year-Old New Zealand Euthanasia Campaigner Dies After Losing Landmark Case
Lecretia Seales' death came shortly after she received judge David Collins' ruling that changing laws on euthanasia was a role for parliament, not the courts.

Laura is now planning her funeral and final words to her mother and grandmother.

The date of Laura’s death is yet to be decided, but she may become part of a small increase in younger individuals seeking to end their lives.

France Allows 'Terminal Sedation' Until Death, not Euthanasia
The French Parliament stopped short of legalizing euthanasia but voted a law allowing medics to place terminally ill patients into a deep sleep until they die.

Belgium legalized euthanasia in the year 2002, with approximately 1,400 cases every year since then. In 2013, the same year that the number of requests to die spiked at over 1,800, the Belgian parliament passed an amendment extending the law to terminally ill children.

Source-Medindia

Euthanasia for Minors Debated By Belgium
A debate was opened to decided on whether to amend a decade-old law on euthanasia to cover minors, being told by experts that it was already taking place in practice without any set guidelines.