A physically young healthy Dutch woman has reportedly decided to be euthanized over her battle with depression.
Zoraya ter Beek, will die by assisted suicide after officials in the Netherlands granted her the approval.
“Ter Beek first applied for assisted suicide in 2020, following battles with depression and suicidal thoughts caused by difficulties in her early childhood,” The New York Post reported.
“The once-aspiring psychiatrist suffers from chronic depression, anxiety, trauma, borderline personality disorder and was diagnosed with autism.”
“Ter Beek believed that the safe environment her partner offered would help her mentally heal, but it didn’t and she reportedly continued to have suicidal thoughts and self-harmed,” the outlet continued.
Earlier this year, longtime Democrat consultant Hal Malchow will reportedly end his life through assisted suicide in Switzerland.
Malchow, who was at the forefront of Al Gore’s successful Senate campaign, chose to end his life after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2019.
He opted to die in Switzerland because current laws in the United States only allow euthanasia if a patient only has months to live.
“In a sense, Hal Malchow has been planning for this day ever since 1987, when a genetic marker test revealed he was likely to develop Alzheimer’s. At the time, he was barely 35 years old, a hustling political operative who had recently come off managing Al Gore’s first Senate campaign while overcome with worry about his mother’s early descent into dementia,” Politico reported.
“(Around her 50th birthday, she was discovered wandering lost in a parking lot in the Mississippi town where she had lived her whole life.) After his mother’s untimely death, in 1990, Malchow was intent on never letting himself endure the same thing. If he showed symptoms for Alzheimer’s, Malchow resolved at the time, he would take his life before he became too diminished — and became a burden to those around him,” the outlet continued.
Last month, American Faith reported on a new bill from California that would expand the state’s assisted suicide measures to allow individuals to end their lives without being previously diagnosed with a terminal disease, such as those with early or mid-stage dementia.
The bill, CA SB1196, changes the definition of “terminal disease” to “grievous and irremediable medical condition.”
Non-residents of the state may also travel to California to obtain assisted suicide.
California Democratic State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, the bill’s sponsor, told Politico that the legislation is about “personal autonomy and making decisions about your own exit from your one precious life on your own terms.”
Blakespear similarly told The Sun, “Nearing your end-of-life elicits strong emotions and is a human experience we will all inevitably encounter,” adding, “The intention behind the End of Life Option Act is to provide those nearing their end-of-life with medical autonomy that best suits their needs—not mine or yours, but their specific needs during this personal moment.”