Zoraya ter Beek described being "hobbled" by depression, autism, and borderline personality disorder which made her "tired of living," in a report produced by The Free Press.
She had at one point planned on becoming a psychiatrist and has lived in a nice house with her 2 cats alongside her boyfriend who she "in love with," per the outlet. Now, she stated she wants to die on her couch and be cremated.
“I did not want to burden my partner with having to keep the grave tidy,” ter Beek told the reporter. “We have not picked an urn yet, but that will be my new house!”
She added an urn emoji after “house!”
The Netherlands became the first country in the world to make euthanasia legal in 2001 and has since seen a "startling" number of its residents opting for death. At the end of January, another 28-year-old with "chronic fatigue syndrome" was granted state-sponsored suicide and passed away on the 27th. According to Statista, more than 8,000 people were euthanized in the Netherlands in 2022.
Even the former Dutch Prime Minster Dries van Agt and his wife Eugene died by state-sponsored suicide in February.
Ter Beek said she chose this path after her psychiatrist had allegedly told her “there’s nothing more we can do for you. It’s never gonna get any better.”
She said she does not want any music and would like the procedure to take place on her living room couch with her boyfriend beside her.
"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," she stated. "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."
The report stated ter Beek will be given a sedative, followed by a drug that will stop her heart.
She and her boyfriend decided he is to spread her cremated remains in a "nice spot in the woods," as she doesn't think family or friends would want to go to a funeral.
“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.”
Stef Groenewoud, a healthcare ethicist at Theological University Kampen in the Netherlands told The Free Press, "I’m seeing euthanasia as some sort of acceptable option brought to the table by physicians, by psychiatrists, when previously it was the ultimate last resort. I see the phenomenon especially in people with psychiatric diseases, and especially young people with psychiatric disorders, where the healthcare professional seems to give up on them more easily than before."
Theo Boer, a healthcare ethics professor at Protestant Theological University in Groningen, resigned after he served for a decade on a euthanasia review board in the country after he had seen "the Dutch euthanasia practice evolve from death being a last resort to death being a default option."
