Netherlands: a cry for help unanswered
The change in the reporting of the cause of death of a Dutch teenager (which the media saw as preventable) highlighted how support-ers of assisted dying are keen to ensure that euthanasia’s growing acceptance in society continues. First reported as being ‘eutha-nasia’, days later Noa Pothoven’s cause of death was altered to one of ‘non-intervention’.
en/BBC
Many were horrified at the lack of sup-port available for a girl suffering with a mental illness, who had been waiting over a year for treatment for an eating disorder. Others were saddened that someone so young would entertain the idea of eutha-nasia. ‘It is difficult to imagine a teenager with no physical ailments essentially being allowed to starve herself’, said the BBC. Noa’s devastated parents believe the Dutch authorities failed them.
