23-Year-Old Belgian Woman Euthanized After Suffering Psychological Trauma and Severe Mental Health

Shanti De Corte euthanasia Euthanasia Legal in Belgium Mental Awareness mental health Psychological Trauma

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Oct 09, 12:05 am

A 23-year-old woman in Belgium was legally euthanized to end six years of severe mental trauma and suffering.

Shanti De Corte decided to be euthanized after struggling with psychological trauma and serious mental health problems due to the ISIS terrorist attack in Brussels in 2016.

It was March 22, 2016, when a 17-year-old De Corte and her class were waiting for their flight to Rome in the departure area of Zaventem, Belgium airport. Two Islamic State suicide bombers detonated their explosives in the same place where she was killing 32 lives and injuring over 300 more, Daily Mail reported.

Miraculously, the young lady was unscathed but only physically because, after the horrifying incident, she suffered significant depression, trauma, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and attempted suicide twice in 2018 and 2020.

She just wished to die

According to her mother, Marielle De Corte, that terrifying day "cracked her" in a way that she never felt safe again. She always had panic attacks, which she could never get rid. She did not want to go anywhere or near people because she was afraid she was in great danger and something terrible might happen around her. She lost her sense of security and was never at rest when outside.

But, the 23-year-old was trying her best, hoping to live a liveable life, yet it became a "battle she couldn't win." She became so limited by her fear that she was left paralyzed, unable to do what she wanted to do in life.

When her daughter ended up in the emergency room after suicide attempts, Marielle started supporting her daughter's wish to just die, according to the Post Millenial.

Despite being rehabilitated in a psychiatric hospital in her hometown of Antwerp and taking various antidepressant medications, Shanti still was unable to heal and overcome.

Thus, on May 7, 2022, she was euthanized surrounded by her family after her request to die was approved by two psychiatrists.

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium

Euthanasia, defined as the practice of ending an individual's life intentionally to end pain and suffering, is legal in Belgium following the 2002 Belgian Euthanasia Act. It allows euthanasia for adults who go through "constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated."

Before Shanti went through euthanasia, she was able to post a farewell message on her Facebook account, stating, "I was laughing and crying. Until the last day. I loved and was allowed to feel what true love is. Now I will go away in peace. Know that I miss you already."

She has always been open about her journey on her social media account. In one post, she narrated how she gets medications for breakfast until she gets to take 11 antidepressants in a day. She expressed how she couldn't live without them anymore, yet with all her medications, she feels like a "ghost" that feels nothing, and maybe there are other solutions than the medications.

In 2018, her suicide was due to a downfall of her mental state after she argued that another patient assaulted her sexually. In 2020, another attempt was made, which led her to reach out to an organization that fights for people's right to "death in dignity."

The story of Shanti has not ended, though, as Antwerp prosecutors have begun their investigations after receiving complaints from a UZC Brugman academic clinical hospital neurologist in Brussels stating that the decision to euthanize the young lady was made "prematurely."