Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

17 year old girl legally euthanised [trigger warning] ***MNHQ note that the details of this story are disputed***

112 replies

Notabedofroses · 05/06/2019 09:11

I am quite shocked reading that a depressed young girl called Noa Pothoven of just seventeen has just been legally euthanised by doctors in the Netherlands.

She was not terminally ill, nor was she brain dead or in a coma for twenty five year.

She was in fact depressed and anorexic.

She was raped as a child, and became depressed and had PTSD.

I can not help but feel she has been massively failed in every single way, how can it be that the doctors gave up on her? She was seventeen, and could have eventually found her way out of the darkness that is teen depression with the right help and support.

What message does it give to other teens? That the easiest way out is to die?

Many many of us are survivors of tragedies, many of us have had serious eating disorders, depression and suicidal thoughts/attempts. Those very same people have gone on to have wonderful, successful and fulfilling lives, but now she will never ever get the chance to turn this around for herself.

I can not stress how much I disagree with euthanising a child of seventeen for depression and anorexia.

Thoughts anyone?

OP posts:
KOKOtiltomorrow · 05/06/2019 16:42

@Notabedofrosies....she wasn’t euthanised. Rather her body was ravaged by her condition which is very sad .... but there are some people so damaged that they can’t be helped. She is at peace now, poor child .

NoSauce · 05/06/2019 16:51

I’m confused by the posters saying she died because of stopping eating and drinking when elsewhere it says she was legally euthanised.

Does anyone know which one is true?

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories I’ve read in a long time.

QueenBlueberries · 05/06/2019 17:13

OK the information about this case is blurry and have been hugely sensationalised by some newspapers. It's what's called a bit of fake news I believe. We don't know what are the facts, and what has been enhanced/dramatised with the purpose of selling newspapers.

NoSauce · 05/06/2019 17:34

mamamiass thank you for the link.

Original poster
Notabedofroses · 05/06/2019 17:37

It seems to be either being covered up very quickly, or all the papers and news feeds in the UK and worldwide (every single one by the way) are wrong. The Times are pretty reliable, as are the Metro and Sky News. They can be sued for fake news.

It will be interesting to find out whether it is fake news or real news, either way it is the saddest thing I have read in a long time, and it is damning indictment of the state of mental health care in the 21st century both in the Netherlands and elsewhere.

OP posts:
user87382294757 · 05/06/2019 17:49

They just discussed the on Radio 4 with a psychiatrist from the Netherlands commenting on the case. It was clear that she was not given a fatal injection / euthanised, but died from anorexia / refused force feeding.

user87382294757 · 05/06/2019 17:51

What happens n the UK if an anorexic patent refuses tube feeding? Do they force them? I have actually had a nasogastric tube for surgery recovery and know it is easy to pull out as did it by accident myself. They stick the end of it to your nose with tape to stop this happening.

Original poster
Notabedofroses · 05/06/2019 17:53

The Guardian was definitely running the whole story of Euthanasia earlier this morning when I first posted, as was all the major papers and news rooms. It has since updated as of two hours ago.

This alone does not mean either story is correct.

OP posts:
QueenBlueberries · 05/06/2019 17:56

Of course that would only happen in the Netherlands. Nobody dies of anorexia in the UK.

user87382294757 · 05/06/2019 17:57

They keep saying 'make her comfortable' but not exactly what that was...medication or what. It is all a bit vague.

x2boys · 05/06/2019 17:58

Papers notoriously word articles ambiguously,whatever the truth of it, it's a tragic case Sad

user87382294757 · 05/06/2019 18:03

Same in this country too www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19369239

Original poster
Notabedofroses · 05/06/2019 18:04

queen you seem to be taking this very personally, when in fact this is not about the Netherlands.

Although I have to say after this thread, I am less enthusiastic about euthanasia now full stop, only for the potential of harm if nothing else.
It is about how we approach mental health, it is the idea that a seventeen year old dies from something like this today, regardless of where she lives in the world.

The point remains that it IS very vague, and the fact that the end of life team were with her at all when she died is very strange if all they did was remove her feeding tubes. She didn't need anyone there to do that.

So although I understand you feel it has been fake news, I don't think we yet know the full story, and perhaps we will in time.

My thoughts and prayers go to her family this evening, and to the lovely young girl she once was. I am extremely sad it has come to this for her.

OP posts:
user87382294757 · 05/06/2019 18:05

Note the lady a move in UK also offered palliative care so she could die in dignity. How is that any different?

QueenBlueberries · 05/06/2019 18:25

I think you are over dramatising a situation this isn't some poxy teenage novel. Anorexia is absolutely devastating and out of all mental illnesses it has the highest rate of death by suicide of all mental health issues (in the UK anyway, I am not sure about data from other countries). And obviously because the consequences are so extreme for the body, it has the highest rate of death caused by mental illness. This is only one case out of thousands. I think she must have been relieved that her parents were with her when she passed away and not on her own.

Technonan · 05/06/2019 18:33

It isn't vague at all. She died from refusing food and drink. The only thing that may be unusual is that her parents and doctors agreed not to force feed her, but she had been through that experience before. Force feeding someone who is rejecting it is a pretty violent and violating process.

This was not euthanasia.

queenblueberries you weren't serious when you said no dies of anorexia in the UK, were you? Because they do.

Lifeisabeach09 · 05/06/2019 18:43

Whatever the cause, either euthanasia or self-imposed starvation (I, personally, feel it's the latter), it's an incredibly sad and emotive situation.

As someone said above, let's hope she found peace.

IdblowJonSnow · 05/06/2019 18:44

Nobody is learning that this is the normal way of dealing with things.
It does seem very young but we don't know the full story. If she had decided she would never recover and experts agreed seems pretty arbitrary to be forced to wait one more year.
If it wasn't legalised maybe she would have committed suicide.
To me this raises issues around rape and child abuse rather than euthanasia.
But mainly it's just tragic, I feel for her and her family greatly.

Becathourus · 05/06/2019 19:43

Please don't refer to it as 'teenage depression'. What she's gone through was horrific and heart breaking Flowers

Alaimo · 05/06/2019 20:12

You say it's strange that the end of life team were with her, but I can find no reliable reference for that? There may have been a palliative care team present, there may not have been. The only fact I can see is she died at home, most likely (although not definitely) as a result of her decision to stop eating & drinking. Pretty much everything else seems speculation?

FWIW Ihave 2 family members in NL who have gone through the process of requesting euthanasia, which was in both cases declined. Having seen how difficult it can be to get permission (and this was for cancer patients with no chance of recovery), sensationalist reporting which seems to imply that people are euthanised right, left and centre is pretty far removed from the reality as I/my family has experienced it.

QueenBlueberries · 05/06/2019 20:56

Technonan, no of course I was just pointing out that this is not an issue faced in just one country, or that it's because that country has a particularly poor mental health services. It was a poor attempt at irony.

Thymeout · 05/06/2019 21:07

Perhaps she was under the care of a palliative team in case she changed her mind. This happened with my mother. She was 94 and had had dementia for 5 years, but when the hospital wanted to discharge her to a nursing home, the nursing home argued against it on the grounds she needed someone with the appropriate medical qualifications in attendance 24/7 in case she had a change of heart.

They gave her medication when she seemed uncomfortable - it's not an easy way to die. But, obviously, since it was in the UK, not enough to actually cause her death. I imagine the same applied in the NL, since she had been refused euthanasia.

I suspect the story has been blown up by the anti-euthanasia lobby.

gingerpaleandproud · 05/06/2019 21:18

I hope the OP @Notabedofroses has now read the correct information on this incredibly sad case, so can see that Noa was not euthanised. She made a conscious decision to refuse food and drink, and this was expected by her family, medics and a judge.

It's really shocking how this has been completely misinterpreted by the British press Angry

Swipe left for the next trending thread