A physically healthy Dutch woman suffering from depression and other mental health problems says she should be euthanized today, on her 34th birthday.
Jolanda Fun, who prepared invitations for her own funeral in advance, told the Sunday Times earlier this month that she hoped to become the last person in the Netherlands to receive medically assisted death for psychiatric problems.
Figures show that 138 people with mental health problems were euthanized in 2023, representing 1.5% of euthanasia cases in the Netherlands that year.
Fun told the British newspaper that she had long suffered from eating disorders, depression, autism and mild learning difficulties – and would rather her life end peacefully than attempt to commit suicide herself.
Even though she has family, friends and a small dog, she says life is constant pain.
Jolanda Fun – a physically healthy Dutch woman suffering from depression and other mental health problems – is scheduled to be euthanized today, on her 34th birthday.
Social situations would lead to “darkness, overstimulation, chaos in my head, loneliness,” she said. Most of the time I feel really shitty. Sad, depressed, gloomy. People don’t see it, because that’s the mask I put on and that’s what we learn to do in life.
Fun took to Facebook last year to say she was looking for a psychiatrist “willing to go on the euthanasia journey” with her.
A year earlier, she said, she had registered with the Expertisecentrum Euthanasia (Expertise Center on Euthanasia) in the Netherlands.
“At the beginning of this year, I had my first conversation (with the center) and (…) it was also clear to them that I had tried everything in terms of therapies and medications and therefore it was of no use. nothing for me.
“Only now is there another conversation and it could take at least a year and a half,” she continued. “I have no idea how to get through this time and I’m actually a little at the end of my rope. I’m tired of fighting and I can’t take it anymore.
Her Facebook post was made on June 9, 2023. Less than a year later, on April 14, 2024, the Sunday Times published her interview with Fun in which she declared that her date was set: April 25, the day of which would be his 34th birthday. .
In her conversation with the newspaper, she spoke more about her decision to — what she called — “get out of life.”
Fun took to Facebook last year to say she was looking for a psychiatrist “willing to take the journey of euthanasia” with her.
“My father is sick, my mother is sick, my parents are fighting to stay alive and I want to get out of life,” she said.
“It’s a bit strange. But even when I was seven, I asked my mother if I would die if I jumped off an overpass. I’ve struggled with this my whole life.
Fun said she had been to therapy several times, but decided euthanasia was her preferred solution two years ago after speaking with a counselor.
They told him that Dutch laws allowed assisted dying for psychiatric reasons – an increasingly common practice in the country.
However, “the rules are very strict,” she told the newspaper.
“It’s not just euthanasia, there’s a whole journey… But it’s a dignified death: painless, carried out by a doctor.” Your loved ones may be there.
Plus, she says, no one “discovers you in a terrible state – otherwise you don’t end up unlucky and in an even worse situation than before.”
The geriatrician worked at the End of Life Clinic (Levenseindekliniek) in The Hague, today known as the Center for Expertise in Euthanasia.
The Netherlands is one of only three EU countries where the practice of assisted dying is legal, with rights groups saying it gives people battling a terminal illness or invalidating the right to end their suffering without humanity.
The data revealed that 8,720 people in the Netherlands ended their lives through euthanasia in 2022, an increase of 14% from the previous year.
This figure increased again in 2023 to 9,068, with the number of reported cases quadrupling between 2005 and 2023.
The 2022 figure represented 5.1 percent of all deaths in the country – but the real figure could be much higher given that research suggests around 20 percent of euthanasia deaths go unreported, according to Dutch media.
No scientific research has been conducted to establish the reason for the dramatic increase in the number of people choosing to euthanize themselves, according to the Netherlands’ regional monitoring committees (RTEs) which track deaths.
Under Dutch law, a person wishing to end their life for mental health reasons must meet six conditions.
They must be mentally competent, have a long-standing wish for euthanasia, the decision must be made of their own free will, they must have been informed of all alternative treatments and there can be no reasonable alternative.
Their eligibility to end their life must also be confirmed by independent doctors and can only be done according to very specific guidelines.
The vast majority of euthanasia cases are granted to people over the age of sixty suffering from terminal health problems.
However, Sisco van Veen, a psychiatrist and researcher in end-of-life ethics at the University of Amsterdam Medical Centre, told the Sunday Times that a growing trend in cases of euthanasia for mental health reasons is “undeniable » and “on the rise”.
According to the Sunday Times, around one in ten requests for euthanasia for psychiatric reasons are carried out.
Assisted dying laws in the Netherlands were thrust into the spotlight earlier this year in a case similar to that of Jolanda Fun.
Zoraya ter Beek, who lives in a small village in the Netherlands, said in April that she would be “released” early next month. She will be euthanized on the couch in her home with her boyfriend by her side, The Free Press reported.
Zoraya ter Beek (photo), who lives in a small village in the Netherlands, suffers from depression, autism and borderline personality disorder. She decided to end her life by euthanasia after a psychiatrist told her “there’s nothing more we can do for you” and that “it will never get better.”
Ter Beek decided she wanted to die after a psychiatrist told her “there’s nothing more we can do for you” and that “it will never get better.”
It is understood that a doctor will give him a sedative before giving him medication that will stop his heart.
When she was just 22, ter Beek chose to get a do-not-resuscitate badge, usually worn by older people.
Now, after doctors reportedly said there was nothing else they could do to improve her mental health, she decided she had had enough of living.
The 28-year-old told the newspaper that she had always been “very clear that if the situation doesn’t improve, I can’t do this anymore.”
She has decided not to have a funeral and will be cremated. Her 40-year-old boyfriend, with whom she is in love, will scatter her ashes in “a nice place in the woods” that they will have chosen together.
“I don’t see it as a departure from my soul, but rather a liberation from life,” she said of her expected death, admitting: “I’m a little afraid of dying, because it’s the ultimate unknown.
“We don’t really know what’s next – or is there nothing? That’s what’s scary.
Ter Beek carefully planned her “release”, telling the newspaper that she would “go on the living room sofa” and there would be “no music”.
The latest figures from the Netherlands’ Regional Monitoring Committees (RTE) show that 8,720 people ended their lives by euthanasia in 2022, an increase of 14 percent compared to the previous year.
She explained that during euthanasia, “the doctor really takes his time” and will first try to “calm the nerves and create a gentle atmosphere.”
The doctor will then ask her if she is ready, according to ter Beek, and she will “take my place on the couch.”
The doctor will ask “one more time” if ter Beek wishes to continue his euthanasia, before starting the procedure and wishing him “bon voyage”.
Ter Beek added: “Or, in my case, a good nap, because I hate it when people say, ‘Have a good trip.’ I’m not going anywhere.’
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for more details.
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