A few months ago, Belgian law authorized the euthanasia of Shanti De Corte, a twenty-something who had survived the attack in Brussels in 2016. The patient could no longer bear her “psychic suffering”.
- Euthanasia corresponds to the act of a doctor who causes the death of an incurable patient to shorten his suffering or his agony.
- This act is illegal in most countries.
On May 7, Shanti De Corte, a 23-year-old Flemish girl, was euthanized, according to the Belgian channel RTBF in a show aired on October 5. The cause ? A “unbearable psychological suffering” caused by the attack on Zaventem airport in Brussels.
Traumatized by the attack, she is hospitalized in psychiatry
In March 2016, the student was present in this public space with her classmates when the terrorists detonated their bomb. Although she was a few meters from the explosive, she emerged physically unscathed. On the other hand, the twenty-something was traumatized by this event. “Shanti De Corte was one of these fragile students. For me it’s clear, she already had serious psychological problems before the attack”, said the psychologist of his school to the Belgian media.
Some time later, the patient was admitted to a psychiatric structure in a hospital in the province of Antwerp. During his hospitalization, the doctors prescribed him psychotropic drugs. “I take up to eleven antidepressants a day, I couldn’t do without them. I feel like a ghost who no longer feels anything”, she wrote in a Facebook post. In 2020, Shanti De Corte tries to commit suicide, because her morale is at an all-time low.
His request for euthanasia for “unappeasable psychic suffering” was accepted
Two years later, more precisely in April 2022, the Belgian decides to request euthanasia for irrevocable psychiatric suffering. His request was examined and validated by two psychiatrists, because, in Belgium, unrelievable psychological suffering is a criterion for eligibility for euthanasia.
A month later, the young woman breathed her last, surrounded by her family. “I laughed and I cried. Until the very last day. I loved and I had the right to feel what true love was. I will now leave in peace. Know that you already miss”, she wrote in a farewell message on Facebook.
