Monday, October 14, 2019

Physically healthy 23-year-old Belgian woman is being considered for euthanasia.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition


Tragic news.

Just as you thought you heard it all, Kelly, a 23-year-old physically healthy woman who lives in Leuven Belgium who is being considered for death by euthanasia (lethal injection) for psychiatric reasons.
Please sign the Letter of Hope to Kelly (Link). Share the letter of Hope with your friends.
In an interview with Ian Birrell, for the Daily Mail, Kelly speaks about seeking euthanasia for psychological pain, even though experts agree that young people will often get better with treatment. Birrell reports:
Many psychiatrists and most Belgians oppose extension of euthanasia to mental health cases. Some experts argue diagnosis is subjective, unlike severe physical illness, and insist the lives of distressed younger patients can improve with time, therapy and medication. 
Yet Kelly, whose birthday is this week, plans to die as soon as legally possible so has no time for such arguments. 'It feels like discrimination,' she said. 'It makes me angry. It's just not fair. They don't understand the pain. 
'People look at me and see someone so young but I feel bad inside all the time. It is not the age that is important but the suffering of the person.'
Kelly has an identical twin sister who will suffer greatly if Kelly dies by euthanasia. Birrell explains that Kelly had not yet told her family her plan to die by euthanasia. 
Kelly lives with her family near Leuven – yet incredibly had not told her parents, identical twin sister or younger sibling of her plan. She was due to break the news to them four days after our discussion, something she admitted she was dreading. 
'It is not going to be easy to tell them. I think my sisters will understand more than my parents. But it will obviously be very difficult, especially for my twin sister.' 
The reason for her failure to tell her family soon becomes clear. She is fond of her father, a salesman, but said her relationship with her mother, a former cleaning lady, was very difficult, leaving her feeling unloved and insecure at home.
Joris Vandenberghe
Kelly, who met her boyfriend Bregt while attending group sessions, is living with psychological pain. She has attempted suicide, been hospitalized, has eating disorders and self-harms, but many people live with similar psychological pain. Birrell reports:

She decided to apply for euthanasia after learning it was lawful and possible from a psychologist in the hospital. 
'I felt 'yes',' she said, pumping her fist as she recalled the moment. 'I immediately went and looked up all the information I could find.' 
To win the right to die, Kelly – who has been unable to work since leaving school beyond a bit of babysitting – needs backing from two psychiatrists and one other doctor. They must agree her mental pain is unbearable and untreatable. 
She applied seven months ago and is being assessed by Joris Vandenberghe, a local professor who has helped draft stricter rules for psychiatrists amid concerns that some patients died despite treatment options being available.
Birrell then tells us about Dr Joris Vandenberghe:
...he recently wrote an academic article admitting that Belgium's policy was 'highly controversial and raises difficult ethical and clinical issues'. 
He argued its laws had failed to ensure 'sufficient checks and balances to promote reluctance to act on a patient's death-wish', concluding that more investment in mental healthcare could prevent some, but not all, of the demand for euthanasia from distressed patients. 
Last year it emerged that three Flemish doctors, including a high-profile psychiatrist accused of being behind almost half the cases of euthanasia for mental health disorders, were being investigated on suspicion of 'poisoning' a woman who had autism.
Kelly needs support in living, not euthanasia. Sadly, many people experience psychological suffering but its not a reason to kill. Euthanasia is an abandonment of people at a low time of their life, but euthanasia for psychological reasons is an abandonment of hope.

It is my hope that Kelly finds hope and a purpose to live.
Important resource articles

17 comments:

  1. Whatever you call it, euthanasia is murder, or suicide, both being awfully the wrong way to die !

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  2. I just prayed for you, Kelly; that you would come to know the peace of God; That you would come to know perfect love and acceptance which God offers through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him alone will you have hope, love and joy for living, no matter what your circumstances in life. Kelley, do not look horizontally at all that's giving you hurt and pain, but look up to God; He has the answer and gives complete freedom and joy in the midst of suffering because He LOVES YOU!
    KELLY CHOOSE TO LIVE! YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN LIFE BY GOD. DO NOT LET ANYONE SNUFF IT OUT!!!!!

    God's love reaches out to you through me all the way from Canada.
    In His Love,
    Helga Berg.

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  3. Stories like this anger me.
    This young woman, who is suicidal, is not ill, she is suicidal.
    Many people never know or claim they didn't know, or rather don't recognize when someone close to them is suicidal.
    If this is not enough red flags for her family, boyfriend and everyone around her to take note and take action, then it is as much their problem as it is hers.
    Only for them it will be a sin.
    One has to question, therefore, are people actually paying attention to those close to them?

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    1. Great comment, I would even take that a little further . To take the time to go beyond our own impressions of then to gentily engage and make every feel they are of value and worth. Love that goes the extra mile and is most sensitive to the needs of another. When you love well you live well we are all here to care beyond our own personal needs. Love is never a burden but a joy. A privilege and an honour.

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  4. Kelly dont do IT there is so much to live for im a twinand i wwould be devastated if my twin wanted to do that there are Many medications that can help you Please font do IT Please

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  5. I sincerely hope, for the sake of her and her family, that this young woman will get proper mental health care and help to LIVE rather than die. There are psychiatric hospitals in Canada that help people. Why not in Belgium? And if 1 treatment doesn't help, try another! Including diet changes. I believe there IS a way to help everyone that doesn't involve killing them!

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  6. It's this woman's own decision. Nobody else's.

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  7. Yes, it is Kelly’s decision - a decision that has eternal consequences, eternal life or eternal death. Those consequences have been stated by God in His word. God has demonstrated His love for all of us, by sending His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to suffer and die on a cross taking the sin of the whole world and the effects of it upon Himself, yours and mine and then raised Him from the dead and received Him back to Heaven where He came from so that now whoever believes in Him shall not die but receive forgiveness and eternal life. Apart from receiving God’s way of salvation His word says that the consequences are eternal separation from Him and His Heaven and damnation. But the good news is that Jesus came to give Kelly and you and me abundant life. We can choose death or life so Kelly you can choose life. You don’t have to choose death. That is a lie from Satan and the pit of hell itself. I was suicidal and I cried out to God to save me. God made sure that I heard the good news just like you are today and I asked Jesus to be my saviour and He saved me. That was 45 years ago this Christmas. I am so grateful that Jesus has come into my heart. He is perfect love and casts out all fear.

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    1. Please don't force your religious beliefs on me. Thank you.

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    2. Jesus died for our sins on the Cross on Calvary for us. Bless your holy name Lord Yeshua hamashiach

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  8. @Thomas Sinclair:
    I don't recall anyone hear forcing anything on you. Is this article about you, Thomas Sinclair? If we missed something, then please tell us, otherwise, your statement is irrelevant to this article. This is about someone else, not you.

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    1. I'm, sorry, are you this woman? Do you know the pain she's dealt with or are her psychiatrist? The treatments she's gone through?

      Some people don't want to spend the rest of their lives locked up or bouncing in and out of a psych ward. If she's fully mentally competent (no just because you're depressed does not mean automatic incompetence), and doctors agree, then it's her own choice.

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Edison 3 November 0:15
    To the site administrator.
    I don't know why you didn't put my comments. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I deleted my first entry whose content was successfully received. I never posted any comments anywhere. I did it for the first time, being deeply moved by two articles that I came across by chance, related to euthanasia and concerning mercy. This had a huge impact on my Christian view, because it conflicts strongly with the teaching of God's Word. God said: "Be merciful, how merciful is your Father. And how merciful? Well, God in his mercy bends over man, to lift him from his fall, save him from perdition and give life. Can we call mercy that man bends take care of his neighbor to send him to that world without saving. God's love and mercy are so clearly presented in God's sending his Son Jesus Christ, who came to die for our sins and do the work of salvation. Lord Jesus at the end of his mission being on earth he said in prayer to the Father: "I have glorified You on earth; I did the work that you commissioned me to do. "And when dying on the cross, His last words were:" It is done. "About what was done?we can learn by reading further that when Jesus gave up the spirit, the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom, indicating that it was God's work and that through Christ's death for our sins, the path to God was open to all believers. How clear are the words of the Lord Jesus who said: '' I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me. '' And in the letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul writes: '' For by grace you are saved by faith , and it's not of you: God's a gift. Not by works, that no one should boast. Then, in a letter to the Romans, the Word of God says: For the payment for sin is death but the gift of God's grace is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Returning to my question asked at the beginning. Maybe it is caused by the fact that I raise religious issues, although I personally look at Christianity as a life in Christ, not a religion which, through its rituals, gives it a different character.Perhaps my views do not agree with your eyes but they are not really my views. They flow from the teaching of the Word of God, I only accept it by faith. I do not preach any denomination or denomination. As a believer, I refer only to the Word of God which is the only source of knowledge and knowledge for all denominations. Dear Lord, Jesus once said to his disciples, "You are the light of the world ... You are the salt of the earth." For me personally here lies the reason that laws or regulations are incompatible with the Word of God. No salt that protects against corruption and light, which lights up the darkness causes the world to sink into corruption and darkness, and it always will be when a man removes God from his life to live according to his wisdom. In the face of this, it becomes natural that I care so much for young Kelly to live. Which is clear in my comments submitted. Jesus said that if a man walks in the dark he does not know where he is going because the darkness blinded his eyes. This is how it is with Kelly. He doesn't know that when he leaves, he takes the opportunity to use the grace of salvation. I wish her that she would grow old, of course, when she was young. As for the errors in the comment that I deleted, I contributed myself, not knowing English. I clearly miss these comments there. I would gladly send them back after small corrections so that they would return to their place, of course, with permission. If, for reasons known to you, it is inappropriate to place my comments, please do not do this, for me Kelly counts. Of course, if Kelly could read them. In this case, it would be better if there were more of them because they could have an impact on shaping her right decision. Thank you for placing my first comment. Yours faithfully, God bless you. Ed

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  12. Edison.
    Dear Kelly, despite what you see looking at yourself in the mirror, I see a pretty girl with a pleasant appearance. Your story has moved me deeply. I think with horror what a person can come to. When he doesn't know God. When he takes his life into his own hands, becoming his own master. The Word of God speaks in the Book. Proverbs 3.5-8. "Trust the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding. Remember him in all your ways and he will straighten your paths!
    Do not consider yourself wise, fear the Lord and avoid evil! It will come to your health and refresh your bones. "Has all the human wisdom and knowledge that man has acquired over the centuries, as a last resort, has nothing more to offer seriously ill? Like euthanasia. Your case exposes the hopelessness of man and his powerlessness in the face such problems you've encountered, where are the Samaritans today? who descend to the sick to lift him and help him, regardless of the cost.
    Instead, should today's mercy look so that in this helplessness suicide is aided, and in fact it sometimes looks like that, for what else can it be called. Why is this happening? because man forgets his Creator. A sick soul does not seek God's help
    God said "Don't kill and who would kill will go to court" Dear Kelly
    you are unique and there is no other like you even the whole world has searched. Life does not end when a man closed his eyes. At this time He only crosses the threshold leading to eternity, the drama and the real tragedy begins when man crosses him without Christ, why? because he can't change his position anymore.
    It is written in a letter to Hebrews 9:27. "And if it is decided to die once and then judgment". A man will stand before God if he left, if he did not reconcile with God in life, he will not reconcile. The time is over. Dear Kelly, God loved you so much that he sent his Son to give us life through his redemptive death. The Lord Jesus said in Gospel Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me above me, that he would preach good news to the poor, send me to proclaim liberation for the prisoners, for the blind to see that I let the oppressed go free. "Satan comes to kill. The Lord Jesus has come to give You life abundantly. He is also a remedy for Your ailment. Open your heart to him, invite him into your life. He said, "Come to me, all you who are tired and burdened and I will give you relief, you will see, He will do everything right. I bless You in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I wish you
    That His Love, Grace and Peace may become yours, I desire this for you, you remain in my memory, heart and prayer.
    For Kelly. Ed

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  13. Mr Sinclair, you may not believe that there is an eternity after death, please give me a solid reason why I should accept your believe. There is life after death and there are two
    choices: her's or God's. Now in your mind which choice is better. That decision in your case will have eternal consequences.

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