Dutch girl was not 'legally euthanised' and died at home

[brooklynite]

Source: The Guardian

A severely ill Dutch girl widely reported by international media as having been “legally euthanised” in a clinic in the Netherlands died at home, apparently after voluntarily refusing to eat or drink and with no evidence that her death was assisted.

Noa Pothoven, 17, who for several years had been treated in multiple institutions for severe depression and anorexia, and had made previous attempts to kill herself, died at her parents’ home in Arnhem on 2 June, local media reported.

Media organisations from Australia to Britain reported it as a case of “legal euthanasia” performed by a Dutch “end-of-life clinic”, and Noa’s name was trending on social media on Tuesday in countries including Italy, where the story was front-page news.

In fact, it is unclear how she died. No official cause of death has so far been given and there is no evidence the case involved either euthanasia or assisted suicide, both of which are legal in the Netherlands subject to strict conditions.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/05/noa-pothoven-netherlands-girl-not-legally-euthanised-died-at-home

[hlthe2b]

1. Good that they are trying to tamp down the international hysteria. The whole story is tragic enough.

I'll be sad for the loss of this young girl, but withhold any conclusions beyond that.

[Hoyt]

2. Thanks for the update.

[jberryhill]

3. That story seemed odd to begin with

For one thing, voluntary euthanasia requires that it not be motivated principally by depression, for obvious reasons.

[marble falls]

6. And yet ...

https://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/02/01/dutch-doctors-euthanise-29-year-old-woman-with-depression/

https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/depressed-belgian-woman-chooses-life-moments-before-scheduled-euthanasia

Seems like it is common emough.

[jberryhill]

7. Why am I suspicious of the accuracy of the "Catholic Herald" on this subject?

[marble falls]

9. Oky doak ...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/11/netherlands-sees-sharp-increase-in-people-choosing-euthanasia-du/

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sex-abuse-victim-in-her-20s-allowed-by-dutch-doctors-to-undergo-euthanasia-due-to-severe-ptsd-a7023666.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-45117163

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/belgium-woman-24-granted-euthanasia-death-depression-article-1.2276577

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3589929/The-woman-killed-doctors-obsessed-cleaning-Horrifying-Yes-s-just-one-growing-numbers-Dutch-men-women-given-right-euthanasia-mental-not-terminal-illness.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/28/panel-clears-dutch-doctor-asked-family-hold-patient-carried/

How many more do you want???

[jberryhill]

11. Did you read the article in the OP?

A severely ill Dutch girl widely reported by international media as having been “legally euthanised” in a clinic in the Netherlands died at home, apparently after voluntarily refusing to eat or drink and with no evidence that her death was assisted.

------

I had thought you linked to some other instance of an assisted suicide as a consequence of depression, and did not realize that it was your mission to demonstrate that, yes, this instance was widely reported incorrectly, which is the gist of the article posted in the OP.

Thank you for proving beyond a doubt that it was indeed widely reported. Today's news is that it was INACCURATELY reported.

Simply because the same piece of misreportage is republished in a variety of circular-citing publications does not mean that each of these publications had an actual correspondent on the scene to obtain the facts. Hence, in these types of circumstances an incorrect report certainly does receive wide circulation (again, as noted in the OP).

[marble falls]

12. First of all you challenged the source of my link so I've given you a bunch more "mainstream" ...

sources.

Secondly you claimed that the Dutch do not allow people to be euthanized for purely mental conditions:


https://democraticunderground.com/10142325287#post3

jberryhill (56,192 posts)
3. That story seemed odd to begin with


For one thing, voluntary euthanasia requires that it not be motivated principally by depression, for obvious reasons.


which is what I was responding to.

[jberryhill]

13. Depression

I did not say "purely mental conditions".

I said "depression".

Carry on.

[marble falls]

15. Puhleeze ...

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/belgium-woman-24-granted-euthanasia-death-depression-article-1.2276577



You make it sound that while depression is a bridge too far for euthanasia, other mental conditions are up for the little black pill.

That's really splitting the hair. They've euthanized at least one young woman because she was suicidal and determined to die. What if depression made them determined to to commit suicide? Pill or no pill?

[marybourg]

4. Yes. I fail to understand the anguish over

needing a doctor to assist one to commit suicide. This method is within the control of anyone who is capable of forming an intent. My grandmother did it in her mid-nineties. Many people with illnesses that inhibit swallowing wind up dying this way. My DH did, and with the help of a little morphine, it was a painless and fairly rapid death.

[jberryhill]

8. There are a number of concerns over mis-use

There is usually broad agreement that in circumstances of terminal medical futility, people should be allowed to make their own decisions in that regard.

There are of course always concerns about undue influence by financially interested parties, or whether the desire to terminate life arises from depression, instead of a conscious choice absent depression (for which suicidal ideation is itself a symptom).

[marybourg]

10. I'm not talking about the decision,

but the ability to carry it out.

[marble falls]

5. "not 'legally euthanised'" ... kind of a stop for a moment and concider the turn of that phrase ...

moment.