22-year-old refuses euthanasia at the last moment

A Dutch woman who suffers from depression is now hopeful for the future after she changed her mind just minutes before undergoing euthanasia.

Romy, who also has anorexia, requested euthanasia at 18 years old and was approved to die four years later in June 2023.

But just before the doctor administered the lethal injection, Romy began to cry and said “no”. She later informed her family and friends: “I have changed my mind at the last minute and will not die today”.

‘I want to live’

Despite suffering several relapses since last June, Romy is now receiving assisted living, studying for a diploma, and says she wants “nothing more than to live”.

She explained: “I don’t regret the journey, because I’ve been so close to death, I see life as something valuable. It won’t always go well, but I now know there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

“I survived death, so I will survive life too.”

Expansion

The number of patients in the Netherlands who have been killed on the basis of “psychiatric disorders” has risen from four in 2010, to 138 last year.

Professor Kevin Yuill, Chief Executive of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, said Romy’s story “highlights the dangers to the UK” if it passes Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

But, he emphasised: “I don’t think any Bill that allows assisted dying of any form can prevent expansion, because if death is defined as medical treatment, how can you deny it to people who are suffering?

“The only real safeguard is not legalising it in the first place.”

Anorexia

Last week, a leading eating disorder charity warned that patients with anorexia nervosa would qualify for assisted suicide under Leadbeater’s proposals.

Chelsea Roff, founder of Eat Breathe Thrive, said that if the backbench MP’s Bill becomes law, “scores of vulnerable young women could receive assistance from the NHS to kill themselves”.

According to the National Institute for Health and Care and Excellence, over 725,000 people suffer from eating disorders in the UK. NHS data suggests that 15,000 hospital admissions in 2023-24 involved life-threatening cases of malnutrition due to conditions such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.