"I'm 28, and I'm scheduled to die in May"

[Libby von H]

Should human beings truly have free will, and the ability to end their life whenever they choose? I don't think someone this young should be afforded this option, but if your medical illness is terminal, then of course this should be allowed.




Zoraya ter Beek, 28, expects to be euthanized in early May.

Her plan, she said, is to be cremated.

“I did not want to burden my partner with having to keep the grave tidy,” ter Beek texted me. “We have not picked an urn yet, but that will be my new house!”

She added an urn emoji after “house!”

Ter Beek, who lives in a little Dutch town near the German border, once had ambitions to become a psychiatrist, but she was never able to muster the will to finish school or start a career. She said she was hobbled by her depression and autism and borderline personality disorder. Now she was tired of living—despite, she said, being in love with her boyfriend, a 40-year-old IT programmer, and living in a nice house with their two cats.

She recalled her psychiatrist telling her that they had tried everything, that “there’s nothing more we can do for you. It’s never gonna get any better.”

At that point, she said, she decided to die. “I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore.”

As if to advertise her hopelessness, ter Beek has a tattoo of a “tree of life” on her upper left arm, but “in reverse.”

“Where the tree of life stands for growth and new beginnings,” she texted, “my tree is the opposite. It is losing its leaves, it is dying. And once the tree died, the bird flew out of it. I don’t see it as my soul leaving, but more as myself being freed from life.”

Her liberation, as it were, will take place at her home. “No music,” she said. “I will be going on the couch in the living room.”

She added: “The doctor really takes her time. It is not that they walk in and say: lay down please! Most of the time it is first a cup of coffee to settle the nerves and create a soft atmosphere. Then she asks if I am ready. I will take my place on the couch. She will once again ask if I am sure, and she will start up the procedure and wish me a good journey. Or, in my case, a nice nap, because I hate it if people say, ‘Safe journey.’ I’m not going anywhere.”

Then the doctor will administer a sedative, followed by a drug that will stop ter Beek’s heart.

When she’s dead, a euthanasia review committee will evaluate her death to ensure the doctor adhered to “due care criteria,” and the Dutch government will (almost certainly) declare that the life of Zoraya ter Beek was lawfully ended.

She’s asked her boyfriend to be with her to the very end.

‘I’m 28. And I’m Scheduled to Die in May.’

Some right-to-die activists want everyone to have access to euthanasia—even young people with mental illness. Are they also making suicide contagious?

www.thefp.com

Terrible that she leaves with no reason to live and dies with no place to go. I do feel sorry but mainly for those who had no hope for her. That kind of thing tunrs on you and eats at your own life.
A friend of mine saw this about a similar situation with a completely different LIFE to it

https://clarionherald.org/news/dominican-grad-suffering-can-be-redemptive

Dominican grad: Suffering can be redemptive​

Mock her if you will but you are mocking yourself

 

[Seymour Flops]

This is absurd. She doesn’t seem to understand the finality of this if she follows through. She won’t be in that urn, she’ll be gone. It won’t be a house for her to live in.

This is a cry for help. If she’s this sad with a boyfriend and a home, it’s a chemical or hormonal imbalance, or some undiscovered physical condition.

 

[odanny]

This is a cry for help. If she’s this sad with a boyfriend and a home, it’s a chemical or hormonal imbalance, or some undiscovered physical condition.

Don't pretend to know what you're talking about.

 

[marvin martian]

“I did not want to burden my partner with having to keep the grave tidy,” ter Beek texted me. “We have not picked an urn yet, but that will be my new house!”

She sounds mentally ill, and it's likely her family is killing her to get rid of the burden of caring for her.

 

[Robert W]

She sounds mentally ill, and it's likely her family is killing her to get rid of the burden of caring for her.

Her story bothers me in a few respects. First I had a young married woman as a client and I sold to her and her husband their first home. About a year after they moved in, I learned she did not have long to live, and she was maybe 30. She told me what bothered her immensely was she would not live to raise her children. It touched me very much. I had another married client who got very ill with multiple sclerosis and it pained me so much to see her so ill and that her husband decided to abandon her in her time of trouble. I believe she did not last too long after I saw her. So when one can live, it is awful that they decide to die. This young woman in Holland needs far better doctors dealing with her. It is a mental disease and her body has not gone to hell.

 

[Nuthin' Fancy]

Why can't that be hillury?

Or Trump.

 

[Clipper]

Or Trump.

View attachment 929665

And give up a life filled with all those burgers?

 

[Jarlaxle]

Her story bothers me in a few respects. First I had a young married woman as a client and I sold to her and her husband their first home. About a year after they moved in, I learned she did not have long to live, and she was maybe 30. She told me what bothered her immensely was she would not live to raise her children. It touched me very much. I had another married client who got very ill with multiple sclerosis and it pained me so much to see her so ill and that her husband decided to abandon her in her time of trouble. I believe she did not last too long after I saw her. So when one can live, it is awful that they decide to die. This young woman in Holland needs far better doctors dealing with her. It is a mental disease and her body has not gone to hell.

Sometimes, there is simply no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Should human beings truly have free will, and the ability to end their life whenever they choose? I don't think someone this young should be afforded this option, but if your medical illness is terminal, then of course this should be allowed.




Zoraya ter Beek, 28, expects to be euthanized in early May.

Her plan, she said, is to be cremated.

“I did not want to burden my partner with having to keep the grave tidy,” ter Beek texted me. “We have not picked an urn yet, but that will be my new house!”

She added an urn emoji after “house!”

Ter Beek, who lives in a little Dutch town near the German border, once had ambitions to become a psychiatrist, but she was never able to muster the will to finish school or start a career. She said she was hobbled by her depression and autism and borderline personality disorder. Now she was tired of living—despite, she said, being in love with her boyfriend, a 40-year-old IT programmer, and living in a nice house with their two cats.

She recalled her psychiatrist telling her that they had tried everything, that “there’s nothing more we can do for you. It’s never gonna get any better.”

At that point, she said, she decided to die. “I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore.”

As if to advertise her hopelessness, ter Beek has a tattoo of a “tree of life” on her upper left arm, but “in reverse.”

“Where the tree of life stands for growth and new beginnings,” she texted, “my tree is the opposite. It is losing its leaves, it is dying. And once the tree died, the bird flew out of it. I don’t see it as my soul leaving, but more as myself being freed from life.”

Her liberation, as it were, will take place at her home. “No music,” she said. “I will be going on the couch in the living room.”

She added: “The doctor really takes her time. It is not that they walk in and say: lay down please! Most of the time it is first a cup of coffee to settle the nerves and create a soft atmosphere. Then she asks if I am ready. I will take my place on the couch. She will once again ask if I am sure, and she will start up the procedure and wish me a good journey. Or, in my case, a nice nap, because I hate it if people say, ‘Safe journey.’ I’m not going anywhere.”

Then the doctor will administer a sedative, followed by a drug that will stop ter Beek’s heart.

When she’s dead, a euthanasia review committee will evaluate her death to ensure the doctor adhered to “due care criteria,” and the Dutch government will (almost certainly) declare that the life of Zoraya ter Beek was lawfully ended.

She’s asked her boyfriend to be with her to the very end.

‘I’m 28. And I’m Scheduled to Die in May.’

Some right-to-die activists want everyone to have access to euthanasia—even young people with mental illness. Are they also making suicide contagious?

www.thefp.com

Why not?

We have way too many people on this planet. If someone struggles every day and they choose to end it, and they've been given the right support, then why not?

 

[braalian]

Why not?

We have way too many people on this planet. If someone struggles every day and they choose to end it, and they've been given the right support, then why not?

Because 99% of the time it’s a transitory moment of despair that will pass given time and support.

The girl in the OP obviously needs meds and therapy, not physician assisted suicide.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Because 99% of the time it’s a transitory moment of despair that will pass given time and support.

"transitory moment"? How many years (decades?) of misery and suffering would you subject such individuals to?

Ter Beek, who lives in a little Dutch town near the German border, once had ambitions to become a psychiatrist, but she was never able to muster the will to finish school or start a career. She said she was hobbled by her depression and autism and borderline personality disorder. Now she was tired of living—despite, she said, being in love with her boyfriend, a 40-year-old IT programmer, and living in a nice house with their two cats.

The girl in the OP obviously needs meds and therapy

Not "obvious" at all. Lots remain miserable no matter what. Otoh, many of us genuinely enjoy living in general. We embrace the struggle, no matter what, decade after decade.. happy pill free.

 

[Libby von H]

Or Trump.

View attachment 929665

Because Hillary was raw hate....I remember when I moved to a certain place , I went to the library and a nice,kind,gently elderly woman has a 'Hillary for Prison" shirt on. She thought it was right that such a person be in jail.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Because 99% of the time it’s a transitory moment of despair that will pass given time and support.

The girl in the OP obviously needs meds and therapy, not physician assisted suicide.

I think you don't understand what people go through.

I have certain issues that drag me down. It's not mental problems, it's just what my body and brain are like. I'm lethargic and I can go for weeks being tired all the time. I literally just got out of a tired period on Thursday, that was two weeks of hell.

And I know people who are much, much worse than me. They can't focus or concentrate on anything, they can't achieve anything. They just live day by day struggling all the time.

I wouldn't want that.

And why should we force people to stay alive?

As for meds and therapy, who's going to pay for it? In the US it's certainly not the fucking selfish bastard Republicans, is it?

 

[Robert W]

Sometimes, there is simply no light at the end of the tunnel.

Many think of life as the Tunnel and death as the end of light.

 

[Carl in Michigan]

This woman is being manipulated. I suppose it's "her choice," but is it really?