A 24-year-old healthy girl has won the right to end her life by assisted suicide because she claims to have had suicidal thoughts since childhood.
The woman, known only as Laura, does not have any life-threatening illnesses but has still been told by authorities that she can voluntarily die.
She is apparently the result of an unplanned pregnancy and had a troubled early upbringing and told doctors: “Life, that’s not for me.”
Laura later moved in with her grandparents in her native Belgium who provided her with “security, peace and structure” but despite that she just does not want to live any longer.
She has been in a psychiatric institution since she was 21 and told local paper De Morgen: “Even though my childhood certainly contributed to my suffering, I am convinced that I had had this death wish even though I grew up with a quiet, stable family.”
“Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful.
“I played all my life with these thoughts of suicide, I have also done a few attempts.
“But then there is someone who needs me, and I don’t want to hurt anyone. That has always stopped me.”
The only thing that Laura has enjoyed doing she said, is planning her own funeral but does admits that her death will be difficult for her grandparents and her mother.
She also revealed that she made friends with another suicidal girl who died 18 months ago.
Assisted suicide has been legal in Belgium since 2003 and it is estimated that five people a day die that way.
For help and support with suicidal thoughts, contact the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90