A Dutch woman who said she struggled with lifelong chronic depression and other mental health issues has been granted permission for euthanasia.
Officials in the Netherlands recently approved 29-year-old Zoraya ter Beek's three-and-a-half year quest for assisted dying. Dutch law states euthanasia is legal for a person "experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement and the attending physician fulfills the statutory due care criteria."
In addition to experiencing chronic depression, ter Beek has also been diagnosed with anxiety, trauma, unspecified personality disorder, and autism, according to an interview with The Guardian published Thursday.
Years of therapy and medication weren't enough to alleviate ter Beek of her mental anguish and suffering. "In therapy, I learned a lot about myself and coping mechanisms, but it didn't fix the main issues. At the beginning of treatment, you start out hopeful. I thought I'd get better. But the longer the treatment goes on, you start losing hope," she said.
After a decade of treatment, ter Beek said there's "nothing left" for her to do to get better. "I knew I couldn't cope with the way I live now," she said, admitting she considered suicide.
"I finished ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) in August 2020, and after a period of accepting there was no more treatment, I applied for assisted dying in December that year. It's a long and complicated process. It's not like you ask for assisted dying on a Monday and you're dead by Friday," she explained.
"I was on a waiting list for assessment for a long time, because there are so few doctors willing to be involved in assisted dying for people with mental suffering. Then you have to be assessed by a team, have a second opinion about your eligibility, and their decision has to be reviewed by another independent doctor," said ter Beek.
"In the three and a half years this has taken, I've never hesitated about my decision. I have felt guilt – I have a partner, family, friends and I'm not blind to their pain. And I've felt scared. But I'm absolutely determined to go through with it."
"Every doctor at every stage says: 'Are you sure? You can stop at any point.' My partner has been in the room for most conversations in order to support me, but several times he has been asked to leave so the doctors can be sure I'm speaking freely."
She anticipates that she'll die in the next coming weeks in the comfort of her home, with her partner by her side.
"I feel relief. It's been such a long fight," she confessed.
"They'll start by giving me a sedative, and won't give me the drugs that stop my heart until I'm in a coma," ter Beek explained of the process. "For me, it will be like falling asleep. My partner will be there, but I've told him it's OK if he needs to leave the room before the moment of death."
"Now the point has come, we're ready for it and we're finding a certain peace," she said. "I feel guilty too. But sometimes when you love someone, you have to let them go."
