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Original poster

To be deeply saddened by a teenager being euthanised **Upsetting content - warning added by MNHQ** ***MNHQ further note that the details of this story are disputed***

337 replies

TheHorseOnSeventhAvenue · 04/06/2019 17:59

I am greatly aware of our rights and understand autonomy but as far as I can see this young Dutch girl, Noa, did not end her own life but was assisted.

My heart goes out to her and her family but this is my absolute reason why euthanasia should not be supported.

OP posts:
MyDearACake · 04/06/2019 18:18

This doesn't sit comfortably with me at all, and I am usually pro euthanasia

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 04/06/2019 18:19

Its good that the choice is there. However its heart breaking that a 17 year olds life was so bad that she felt she had to choose death as the only way out.
Her life was only just starting.
Its not like its a 99 year old women with cancer who has lived her life and had the good and the bad times.
I also find it terrifying though that children as young as 12 can choose to be euthenised. How is that old enough to make such a huge decision.

HaroldsSocalledBluetits · 04/06/2019 18:19

I think it is appalling that a child has been helped to kill themselves rather than getting the treatment they need. This is wrong.

fairweathercyclist · 04/06/2019 18:20

I find it very sad that a country like the Netherlands doesn't have the facilities to help this girl. This isn't the sort of case I have in mind when I support euthanasia, I think of eg people with MND. How can there have been nobody anywhere who could have helped her?

And I hope her abuser(s) rot(s) in hell.

AnActualWoman · 04/06/2019 18:20

I thought she stopped eating/drinking? If so it wasn't euthanasia. Not that it matters. Heartbreaking she had to come to the decision to end her own life.

Loubylou79 · 04/06/2019 18:20

My heart totally breaks for her. I’m a supporter of euthanasia in certain circumstances but feel that someone so young may have had a chance with the proper support

DishingOutDone · 04/06/2019 18:20

I've just sat here and typed a moaning self pitying post on another thread and then read this. Jesus wept. I have no words.

Redhanger · 04/06/2019 18:20

She was too young

MrsMozartMkII · 04/06/2019 18:21

May you be at peace now lass Flowers

Redhanger · 04/06/2019 18:21

Really it was suicide with a talking point though

Outofinspiration · 04/06/2019 18:23

Jesus Christ.... I really struggle with this actually. I'm glad she wasn't in pain any more but, I don't know, this just seems so sad, such a waste?

Also, I feel like this would potentially be a slippery slope with outside people deciding who can die and who can't? Presumably they don't euthanise all suicidal people and so a decision is made by someone about who is allowed to and who isn't?

This is going to seem like a really stupid question and I'm really not being obtuse here, but why euthanasia in this case rather than just suicide? I know that a lot of people who go to these clinics aren't physically able to administer things themselves or commit suicide and need someone else to help them, hence doing it the 'proper way' but this wasn't the case for her was it? Is it to prevent things going wrong or reduce pain?

I hope the piece of shit that did that to Noa as a child rots in hell.

Mummadeeze · 04/06/2019 18:23

I struggle to accept her decision as a 17 year old too. If there was a chance of getting the right help, maybe she could have led a different life in her adult years. I also feel so sorry for her significant others if there were any (haven’t read too much about it).

EmeraldShamrock · 04/06/2019 18:23

It looks like she starved herself prior to the decision to go ahead.
Jez so sad, Why couldn't this girl be helped? Why were there no services in the Netherlands to help her.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 04/06/2019 18:24

I hope her abuser (s) rot in hell.

Me, too and in my book if Noa chose to die because of what they put her through and the mental scars it left her with. Then its murder rather than assisted suicide.

PinkCrayon · 04/06/2019 18:24

"My heart goes out to her and her family but this is my absolute reason why euthanasia should not be supported"

I support euthanasia , my Dad dieing slowly in absolute agony gave me this view.
I strongly believe it should be available when people have a disease that is terminal its cruel to let people suffer when they are going to die shortly anyway.

adaline · 04/06/2019 18:25

She wasn't euthanised.

She stopped eating and drinking and nobody intervened in her decision. It's not the same thing.

Outofinspiration · 04/06/2019 18:25

Yes, how can a child as young as 12 be equipped to make a decision about suicide?!

Littletabbyocelot · 04/06/2019 18:25

I called an ambulance yesterday to stop a member of my family committing suicide for very similar reasons. I believe someone has the right to end their life BUT they should receive the best quality help first. I would want it, as far as possible, to be a rational decision. We shouldn't be in a situation where a child experiences a traumatic event and their life is written off. So legalising help, including in the process psychological support and assessment, could make sense but only in the context of support being available before it reaches that point.

My dad lived 20 mostly very happy years after severe depression and multiple failed suicide attempts. He'd have missed out on so much. But he was lucky, he got a year of intensive residential help.

IvanaPee · 04/06/2019 18:25

Her life was only just starting.

She’d already been through so much in her short life than millions of people will (thankfully) ever go through.

Yes, she was young. But she was in unbearable pain and there was no help available to her. Not the help she needed.

I mean, at what age is it ok?

“You’re 17 so you need to continue to live in horrific pain and anguish until we decide it’s a little less tragic because you’re older.”

That’s not ok.

All around a horrible case with no real, 100% right answer.

Ultimately I think she would have done it whether people thought it was ok or not. At least now she’s not in pain.

DontPressSendTooSoon · 04/06/2019 18:27

I'm sad about this because at the age of 17 if this had been available to me I'd definitely have done it. my mental health was extremely poor and every day was torture. I did actually attempt suicide more than once but was found in time.

15 years later after an awful lot more pain I did actually end up successfully treated for my MH and went on to have a life worth living, I am now happy/at peace most of the time and often think 'but I nearly didn't get to live this life'.

Things can change. People can change and 17 is very very young to write your life off no matter how bleak things look at the time.

Starlight456 · 04/06/2019 18:27

This is tragically sad the support to help should of been available

Outofinspiration · 04/06/2019 18:27

Noa said she wanted her book to help vulnerable youngsters who struggle with life, saying that the Netherlands does not have specialised institutions or clinics where teens can go for psychological or physical aid.

But they do have clinics where they will euthanise teenagers? WTF?!

KittyMarion · 04/06/2019 18:28

The Netherlands (Holland I think) are leading the way in researching EMDR and developing intensive treatment protocols for EMDR to treat PTSD so I'm really surprised to hear there are no specialist clinics.

I find this heartbreaking. She was so young and for her and everyone around her to have no hope is so so sad.

Bluerussian · 04/06/2019 18:29

TheHouseonSeventhAvenue, I agree wholeheartedly with your opening post. Poor girl was far too young to die, she needed help to live! That was obviously sadly lacking.

Very tragic.

EmeraldShamrock · 04/06/2019 18:30

She stopped eating and drinking and nobody intervened in her decision. It's not the same thing
Don't think so, she starved during the process, probably to force the decision. Her FB looks like she got her decision but not the date.

‘I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die. ‘After years of battling and fighting, I am drained. I have quit eating and drinking for a while now, and after many discussions and evaluations, it was decided to let me go because my suffering is unbearable.

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