Zoraya ter Beek passed away on May 22 with the help of the Euthanasia Expertise Center, just 20 days after her birthday. She struggled with mental health issues for over a decade, including borderline personality disorder and autism. Beek stated that after treatments failed to help her, she no longer wanted to live and preferred to die via lethal injection, the Daily Mail reports.
Despite writing on her May 2 birthday that she had a good life, Beek said it wasn't enough to live for.
"I have a house. Two cheerful cats. And a partner who loves me dearly, and I love him. I've got everything. But that 'all' is not enough to live for," said Beek, per the outlet.
Beek's partner supported her death wish and was right beside her when she died.
Since euthanasia became legal in the Netherlands in 2001, a "startling" number of its citizens have chosen to end their lives. The Netherlands was the first nation in the world to offer death by euthanasia. Another 28-year-old man suffering from "chronic fatigue syndrome" was allowed to die by lethal injection at the end of January. Over 8,000 people were put to death in the Netherlands in 2022, according to Statista.
Following Beek's death, a friend of Beek said she died "humanely." While the details surrounding the method of Beek's death have not yet been made public, those who die by euthanasia are usually injected with a barbiturate solution that stops the heart.
"For the people who called it a bluff, who called her an attention whore. Excuse yourself and sit in a corner. Ask yourself, are you part of the problem, or part of the solution?" wrote Martin on X, who is a friend of Beek.
He was reportedly in charge of announcing her death, according to the Daily Mail, and wrote: "Zoraya passed away today at 1.25 pm. Or as she saw it herself: she went to sleep. Her last wish/request is to leave her loved ones alone and, if possible, to swallow disrespectful reactions. She understood that euthanasia for psychological suffering is still a 'thing' for some people."
Beek was on the waiting list for state-sponsored suicide for three years.
She told the Dutch newspaper Algeemen Dagblad: "Sometimes you really get a truckload of shit thrown at you from people who are against it anyway. Who accuse you of being an attention seeker. There is always some kind of burden of proof."
"People want to be able to see that you are suffering. That you cry. But yes, I put on makeup and dress well when I go out. They only see me happily doing my thing, not on the days when I lie in bed all day," said Beek.
