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| Wesley Smith |
Why do you oppose euthanasia, Wesley? If people want to die, we should help them die.
No. And here’s an individual example explaining just one reason why. A deeply depressed woman was about to be lethally injected in the Netherlands — but changed her mind just in the nick of time. From the New York Post story:
Romy, 22, who suffered from clinical depression, eating disorders, and anorexia due to childhood abuse, made the heartbreaking decision to end her life in accordance with legislation in the Netherlands, which allows for euthanasia under certain circumstances.That would certainly focus one’s attention. At the last second, she decided to live — no thanks to the death doctor:
She decided not to go ahead with it at the very last moment.
After turning 18, Romy campaigned for four years for her right to die via voluntary assisted dying (VAD) to doctors, officials, and her family. But in 2023, when she found herself lying in a hospital bed in the Dutch city of Leiden, she had a sudden change of heart. Earlier that day, she had seen the coffin in which she would be taken to the mortuary.
The doctor stood over her and explained one last time the step-by-step process of what she was going to do as part of the lethal injection process under her country’s euthanasia laws.If the date of the killing had been a week earlier, or if she had not seen her soon-to-be coffin, she might not be with us today.
Romy gave the doctor the green light, but she was sweating and her heart was pounding as she considered the finality of what was about to happen, she says.
As the doctor stepped up to administer the lethal injection, she was asked one final question to comply with Dutch law — “Are you sure?”
Romy, whose surname has been withheld, was not sure. She started to cry and so did her mother, and she decided to call it all off.
What can we learn from this?
First, just because someone says they want to die, that doesn’t mean that will always be the case. Years can pass and “want to die” can switch in a moment to a desire to live.
Second, most assisted suicide/euthanasia applicants do not receive suicide prevention services. How many would change their minds if they did? We will never know. And if the option of being killed wasn’t there, how many would go on to find other ways to grapple with their suffering and depression?
Third, this case exemplifies the tragedy that is euthanasia/assisted suicide legalization. How many who died by those means would have been so happy to still be alive in a day, week, month, or year if their death wish had not been accommodated? Again, we will never know.
Romy’s case illuminates the wrongness of the so-called “right to die”:
After initially backing out of her euthanasia, Romy requested to end her life once again and was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a later date.Do you see the difference that caring family/doctors/society can make when they push against the darkness instead of shrugging and saying, “It’s your choice”?
However, with the persistent support of her psychiatrist, family and friends, she decided to continue with her trauma therapy and now expresses that she wants “nothing more than to live.”
“I don’t regret the journey. Because I’ve been so close to death, I see life as something valuable. It won’t always go well, but I now know there is light at the end of the tunnel,” she told Dutch outlet NRC.
Today, Romy is studying for a diploma in adult education and lives in communal assisted living.
When the publication asked what gives her hope, she laughed, “This is going to sound crazy: I genuinely enjoyed paying rent. It gives my life meaning.”
Help suicidal people find their meaning. Don’t salute when they ask to end their lives and then, take on the mantle of compassion. Compassion means to suffer with. Euthanasia/assisted suicide is a form of discarding.
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