According to The Free Press, a shocking 5% of deaths in the Netherlands in 2022 were from euthanasia. Zoraya ter Beek, a 28-year-old woman from the Netherlands, was approved for euthanasia because of her struggles with mental health and is scheduled to die in May. It’s a dark and tragic story, but reflects how more and more people in the West are seeing death as the only way out of pain. Free Press reporter Rupa Subramanya writes,

There won’t be any funeral. She doesn’t have much family; she doesn’t think her friends will feel like going. Instead, her boyfriend will scatter her ashes in “a nice spot in the woods” that they have chosen together, she said.

“I’m a little afraid of dying, because it’s the ultimate unknown,” she said. “We don’t really know what’s next—or is there nothing? That’s the scary part.”

‘I’m 28. And I’m Scheduled to Die in May.’ | The Free Press (thefp.com)

Also according to the article, ter Beek said that one of her psychiatrists told her that her depression wasn’t going to get any better, and that there was nothing she could do to improve. Nowadays, an increasing number of people are opting for euthanasia for mere mental illness or other problems that could be easily treatable. What kind of thinking has taken over psychiatry when a professional tells a young woman with her whole life ahead of her that there’s basically no hope? It is a tragedy and an injustice indeed, and hopefully ter Beek realizes how much she has to live for and changes her mind.