A 17-year-old girl from the Netherlands, who was sexually assaulted three times during her childhood, breathed her last a few days ago. The girl died after she refused to eat or drink because of her unbearable psychological suffering and a long struggle with depression.
She wanted to end her life earlier and had approached a state authorised clinic in the Netherlands but was refused because of her age.
Penning an emotional note on Instagram, Noa Pothiven said that she had completely stopped eating, drinking as she was going through unbearable suffering. She said that she would die within the next ten days.
Noa was first assaulted when she was 11 years of age and then when she was 12 at children's parties. Again, when she was 14, she was raped by two men. She had hidden these incidents from her parents because she was ashamed, The Sun reports.
Many reports claimed that the girl was assisted by a physician to end her life but her parents emphasised that she died at home after she refused to eat or drink and she did not end her life through euthanasia.
Physician-assisted suicide is granted to those who are medically deemed sick and are "enduring unbearable and unendurable suffering". She had earlier contacted Life End Clinic in The Hague to talk about life-ending options. She had done this without informing her loved ones.
Euthanasia is granted to adults as well as children in certain circumstances.
Noa wrote in her Instagram post that "Love is letting go."
"I deliberated for quite a while whether or not I should share this, but decided to do it anyway...Maybe this comes as a surprise to some, given my posts about hospitalisation, but my plan has been there for a long time and is not impulsive."
"I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die," wrote Noa.
She explained, "I have quit eating and drinking for a while now, and after many discussions and evaluations, it was decided to let me go because my suffering is unbearable."
She then said that she is breathing but is not alive and that no one can change her mind about the decision. During her final days, she was in a hospital bed in her living room because of her anorexia.
Last year, her lack of eating led to her organs on the brink of failure and she had to go under a medical induced coma so she could get nutrients through tubes, Noa's award-winning book - Winning or Learning revealed.
The book also said that she had gone to the police last year to report the attacks and hoped the men will be given the justice they deserve one day.
