Physically fit woman plans to euthanize herself on her 34th birthday- Today

A physically healthy Dutch woman suffering from mental health problems says she plans to euthanize herself today, on her 34th birthday.

Jolanda Fun, who has already prepared invitations for her own funeral, told the Sunday Times earlier this month how she hopes to become the latest person in the Netherlands to be euthanized by a doctor due to psychiatric problems.

The outlet claims Jolanda suffers from an eating disorder, recurrent depression, autism and learning difficulties, which causes feelings she describes as ‘dark, overstimulation, chaos in my head, loneliness’.

Despite having family, friends and a small dog, she said life is a constant pain.

‘Most of the time I just feel really s**tty,’ she said.

‘Sad, down, gloomy. People don’t see it, because that’s the mask I put on and that’s what you learn to do in life.’

Jolanda took to Facebook last year to announce she was looking for a psychiatrist ‘willing to go on the euthanasia journey’ with her, admitting she had been depressed since she was seven years old and had been thinking about death a lot.

In the post, she said she had registered at the Expertisecentrum Euthanasie (Expertise Center Euthanasia) in the Netherlands a year earlier.

‘At the beginning of this year I had my first conversation (with the centre) and […] it was also clear to them that I have tried everything regarding therapies and medicines and that this is therefore pointless for me. 

‘Only now there is another conversation and that could take at least 1.5 years,’ she continued. ‘I have no idea how to get through this time and I’m actually a little at the end. I’m tired of fighting and I just can’t anymore.’

The post was made on June 9, 2023. Nearly a year later, on April 14, she told the Times about her decision to ‘step out of life’ on April 25- her 34th birthday.

‘My father is sick, my mother is sick, my parents are fighting to stay alive, and I want to step out of life,” she told the publication.

‘That’s a bit strange. But even when I was seven, I asked my mother whether, if I jumped from a viaduct, I would be dead. I’ve been struggling with this my whole life.’

The 34-year-old says she sought therapy many times over the years, but described her life as one of constant pain.

She decided on euthanasia two years ago when a counsellor told her that laws in the Netherlands permitted it for psychiatric reasons.

‘The rules are very strict,’ she said of the process of being granted the right to die.

‘You don’t just get euthanasia, there’s a whole journey… But it is death in a dignified way: painless, done by a doctor. Your loved ones can be there.’

‘And nobody discovers you in an appalling state – or you don’t end up unlucky and even worse off than before.’

The Netherlands is one of only three European countries to legalise the practice of assisted dying, with rights groups claiming it gives people with crippling or terminal illnesses the dignity of dying on their own terms.

Data revealed that in 2023, 9068 people in the Netherlands chose to end their own lives via doctor-assisted suicide, with the number of reported cases quadrupling between 2005 and 2023. 

Earlier this month, a 28-year-old Dutch woman spoke out about her own decision to end her life following a similar long-term struggle with mental health.

Zoraya ter Beek, 28, said her depression, autism and borderline personality disorder has thwarted all her life ambitions and left her feeling tired of living, despite living in a nice house with two cats and a boyfriend whom she loves.

The 28-year-old added: ‘I was always very clear that if it doesn’t get better, I can’t do this anymore.’

She will be euthanised on her sofa, with her boyfriend by her side and no music playing.

Under Dutch laws, a person wishing to end their life on mental health grounds must meet six conditions.

They must be mentally competent, have a long-standing wish for euthanasia, the decision must be made under their own volition, they must have been informed of all alternative treatments, and there can be no other reasonable solution.

Their eligibility to end their life must also be confirmed by independent doctors, and can only be carried out according to very specific guidelines.

According to The Sunday Times, only around one in 10 requests for euthanasia on psychiatric grounds are carried out.

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