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***

[TheHorseOnSeventhAvenue]

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.

This is so sad.

I'm amazed so many posters are pro euthanasia in mh cases.

So the Netherlands can afford to fund euthanasia clinics, but not trauma clinics for survivors or sexual abuse?

This is the slippery slope.

I was abused very badly, at age 14 and it went on for another 7 yrs. I have lived with PTSD. At 17 I was raped again by a group of men. I wanted to die. I dreamt about it. I planned it.
I'm 36 now, three children, wonderful husband and just out the other side of 6 yrs of therapy. And life is good. Hard, but good.

She has been failed. She was still reeling from her trauma, she had many yrs to heal. That she thought there was no other way out is horrible. Emotive, but it seems she was left to die. They gave up on her and she had no way out. How horribly sad.

It’s great that some people recover from such a trauma. But not everyone does.

It is possible for most people if they get the right treatment though, that's what those posters are highlighting. 17 seems far too young for this to happen.

I'm also surprised by this claim that The Netherlands doesn't have mental health services. The article refers to no "specialised clinic", that doesn't mean there aren't good MH units within clinics and hospitals.

I'm in favour of euthanasia for people with terminal or severely life limiting conditions, but this case feels wrong. A 17 year old with MH issues still has a chance of recovery with the proper treatment - PPs here are real life examples of that.

It is sad.

I'm amazed that so many posters are OK with denying people with MH problems any kind of self-determination. I'm Dutch. Accessing help with dying in Holland is not easy.

But many people on this thread seem to want it to be impossible.

I am pro euthanasia usually, but a young girl with mental health problems should not be euthanised, she should be helped. I struggled with mental health difficulties throughout my childhood and teenage years, and lost a friend to suicide aged 14. Rest in peace Noa, you deserved better.

I'm left wondering whatever sort of childhood she had that all these awful awful things could happen to such a young girl.......................

It doesn't sit right with me that a teenager whose brain still hasn't fully developed can do this. At all.

Makes you want to cling to your DC and never let go

Stopping food/drink is known as passive euthanasia and also legal in the UK

Deeply saddening for her family.
I read her situation, but wonder if it is right for someone who is not adult . I think the age limits should be raised .
Shame nothing could be done to help her.

I have ptsd as a result of childhood rape.
I have been suicidal. At that time it was totally clear that the only thing in the world that was right was for me to die. I was crystal clear I talked at length for weeks to a psychiatrist at the hospital why he was wrong and I was right.
11 years and lots of therapy later I can see that my clear thought out logic was floored.

I can remember how it felt to be that clear. I can imagine her clarity of thought.
It is immensely sad that nothing helped her in time.

I'm amazed that so many posters are OK with denying people with MH problems any kind of self-determination.

There are posters here who felt the same way as Noa at 17, and now have happy lives. They are glad nobody allowed them to be euthanized. It's a perfectly valid opinion which comes from personal experience, and one that I think most people would agree with.

May she be at peace

However I think the people who abused her have a crime to answer for, it should be manslaughter if not murder.
I am normally quite pro euthanasia, thinking about people with terminal illnesses but this is totally wrong.

She needed treatment and the right treatment. You wouldn't euthanasie a 17 yo for having cancer without trying to treat them first.

Honestly? When my MH first got severe at 17, if I’d had any inkling that it would still be this bad 15 years on, with no end in sight... I’d have done the same. It’s exhausting. I’m so over living like this.

This all seems a bit misleading. No one intervened in her decision to stop eating and drinking. That surely isn't the same as 'being euthanised' which suggests being given something like pills or an injection to actively end their life. Unless I'm missing something?

Not that I don't feel very sorry for her.

What the actual fuck!! I am lost for words. Poor girl. Do we give up on all our depressed and suicidal children then? You’re damaged beyond repair so top yourself now with our assistance rather than postpone the inevitable. I imagine this poor girl becoming some sort of heroine on ProAna sites. I don’t understand her pain, no but couldn’t something be done? Her poor parents. And the bastards that slowly murdered her from a distance (the rapists). Appallingly sad.

It's sad but not shocking that the debate this has largely sparked, a lot of it here but also between politicians and elsewhere online and in the media, surrounds euthanasia law rather than the issues of male on female and child sexual violence, and poor mental healthcare provision. That a government and society would sanction the death of a child rather than tackle sexual violence and invest in proper mental healthcare which is accessible to all who need it is just an utter disgrace. The answer to this is not to squabble about euthanasia; it's to protect women and children from dangerous men and to take mental health seriously.

People always comment on suicides that the victim was not in good mental health and could not rationalise how their death would hurt those left behind.

So how can a country agree to kill someone in poor mental health?

Terminal illness. Yes.

Mental illness at 17. Just no.

But how would you know at 17 that there was no end in sight, Ghost?

I felt the same at 17 and life has changed beyond recognition now, although it has not been an easy ride.

And that makes it sound as if I’m concerned about those left behind. I’m not.

I would like to ask other ladies on here who else has been raped. I have one time and I remember the pain being absolutely unbearable for two years afterwards. There is no pain like it. I attempted suicide in this time🙁. I had alot of different counsellors and until I had a counsellor who had been raped herself I didnt heal. She was able to pull me out of it because she knew exactly how it felt like. She is still my angel. They did to take rape prevention far far more seriously. For example, what are they doing in this country right now to prevent rape? Why doesnt the government allocate funding

I was pro the right to die - before I realised that the netherlands has no mental health care. That is horribly, horribly unethical and I am absolutely against it. You should have had every available intervention before it becomes a choice. This is usually the case when it’s a physical problem. It should be the case with mental health too. She should have had years and years of failed therapy before this choice was acepted.

I am absolutely appalled by this. I have nursed so many suicidal people, none of whom I have ever believed were beyond help. Most people do improve, but if they don't, then I cannot see how this would work in the UK.

Suffering acute PTSD and anorexia, with suicidal intent, almost by default would mean that a person lacked capacity to make such a decision, under the Mental Capacity Act, so the ability to consent would be very difficult to ascertain.

Yes, sometimes the struggle is too much and people end their lives. But having the desire to die almost validated by other health professionals seems wrong, in this instance.

If someone truly does want to die, they will find a way. The vast majority of people don't, they want the pain to stop.

Poor child, that other health professionals agreed she was beyond hope.

I agree, Moms and pointed.

It's presumptuous beyond belief to force people to stay alive when they don't want to or end their lives with painful ways because of someone else's morality.

It's heart breaking because she's so young.

I feel so sorry for her parents who didn't want this.

And i had no idea 12 year olds could end their lives with parental permission. That is horrific.

I always thought of this for elderly people in pain facing dementia or people with MS.

I really don't support it but then recognise maybe she was heading for suicide.