Dutch euthanasia for mental illness surges 60%, including teen with autism

(LifeSiteNews) — A new report indicates a staggering 60 percent rise in Dutch euthanasia cases for “psychological suffering” – mental illness. The report indicates a 10 percent overall rise in the euthanasia rate from 2023 to 2024, with nearly 10,000 Dutch people dying by euthanasia last year. 

As Yuan Yi Zhu noted in Unherd, in 2024, the Netherlands reported 219 cases of euthanasia for “psychological suffering,” as opposed to only two cases in 2010. “Of the 219, 30 were for patients aged 18-39,” Zhu noted. “An unspecified number of minors were also euthanized.” 

The number was unspecified, but there are a few specifics. One boy between the ages of 16 and 18 was euthanized for autism. “The psychiatrists decided that his condition was untreatable, despite not having tried all available therapeutic models, and thought he might attempt suicide again if his application for euthanasia was not granted,” Zhu writes. “A doctor also concluded that his wish to be euthanised did not stem from his autism but instead from the suffering caused by the consequences of autism, which some may consider a distinction without a difference.”  

Another woman with OCD was euthanized because an injury prevented her from cleaning. 

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The Netherlands, which legalized euthanasia in 2002, has been heading in this direction for some time. On October 7, 2013, the Daily Mail reported that a Dutch woman had been killed by medics via lethal injection because she feared she could not cope with becoming blind. One of the health specialists analyzing her case insisted that it was an exceptional because, “She was, for example, obsessed by cleanliness and could not stand being unable to see spots on her clothes.” 

In 2014, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition described how the Dutch media had reported another death: 

A physically healthy man of 63 who was working for a government institution, died by euthanasia. This man had been treated for a long time for depression, but the treatment didn’t work out. According to psychiatrist Gerty Casteelen this man decided that he wanted to die. The night before his death, he gave a farewell reception for his colleagues. The day after, Casteelen went to his house and gave him a lethal injection.

In 2015, an 80-year-old woman was killed by euthanasia against the wishes of her caretakers at the nursing home Ter Reede, where she resided. Her family had petitioned a Dutch court to approve her death, which she could not consent to, due to purportedly suffering from some form of dementia. Her family claimed she would have wanted death, and, despite strong opposition from the management of the nursing home, medical practitioners, and the woman’s doctor, an Utrecht judge agreed.

In 2015, a Dutch euthanasia clinic was reprimanded for euthanizing a healthy 47-year-old woman who said that a ringing in her ears – a condition known as tinnitus – was unbearable. 

Despite this track record, the latest report has caused some concern, and RTE – the regional euthanasia review committee – stated that physicians must exercise “great caution” with psychiatric conditions. Indeed, the Guardian reported that “six deaths by euthanasia in 2024 were judged by the RTE to have lacked due care,” including the woman who was euthanized for the suffering caused by her OCD, and noted that “some experts are concerned, especially regarding younger people.” 

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“Although the absolute numbers are still low, there is a recent, enormous increase in requests and euthanasia performed in patients with psychological complaints, especially in young people under 30,” said Damiaan Denys, a professor of psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center. 

“This is controversial because it is unclear whether young people at that age can meet the due diligence criteria. How can one, at that age, determine with certainty that a young person with a still-developing brain definitely wants to die, that life is experienced as hopeless and without prospects and that all treatments have already been carried out?” 

The fact that Denys believes Dutch euthanasia numbers are low is an indication of how accustomed to the practice he has become – but lawmakers in the U.K. and Canada should be looking at the rise in young people opting for euthanasia for mental health reasons with enormous alarm.

In Canada, there is still an opportunity to halt the expansion of eligibility for assisted suicide to those suffering from mental illness. In the U.K., it is still possible to stop the legalization of assisted suicide altogether. Those who care for the vulnerable should do everything in their power to step back from the edge of the slippery slope.