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Belgian Shanti de Corte, 23, received euthanasia clearance after declaring “unbearable mental suffering”. The young woman, victim of the terrorist attacks by the Islamic State in Brussels in 2016 that left more than 32 dead and 300 injured, underwent therapeutic treatments and admitted to psychiatric hospitals but decided to die last Friday (07) along with family members. .
According to the Belgian newspaper RTBF, a teacher at the school where Shanti was at the time described how the girl suffered from some disorders as a teenager, which got worse after the terrorist attack. Shanti was with colleagues at Zaventem Airport preparing for a trip to Italy when two terrorists detonated explosives a few meters from the students.
She made some suicide attempts and formalized requests for euthanasia (if a third party is allowed to bring about a painless death), which were denied. With an application made in April this year, signed by two psychiatrists and supported by an association specializing in euthanasia and assisted suicide, the young Belgian was granted approval.
Belgian neurologist Paul Dentenne told the local newspaper that this was not the ideal referral for the young woman because “other medical care could have been suggested”.
The federal commission responsible said that the law respected the fact that “the young woman was suffering from such a great mental illness that her request was consequently accepted”.