Dutch medics performed euthanasia on a sex abuse victim who could not live with the memories of the ordeal she suffered as a girl.
The woman, who was in her 20s, was given a lethal injection after battling severe psychiatric problems for 15 years.
She had suffered from “treatment-resistant” post-traumatic stress disorder, anorexia, flashbacks, hallucinations, chronic depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and mood swings.
The woman was self-harming and suicidal and was also afflicted by a range of physical illnesses relating to her mental state. After deciding that nothing could be done to improve the woman’s condition, doctors and psychiatrists concluded that she was suffering “unbearably” and “hopelessly”.
She told doctors that she wanted to die and they granted her wish after they agreed that her case met the criteria for euthanasia under Dutch law.
Her death is believed to be the first in which a sex abuse victim has been killed by medics because of the suffering experienced in the aftermath. Lord Carlile of Berriew, co-chair of the think thank Living and Dying Well, described the decision to kill the woman as “absolutely outrageous”.
The case emerged as new figures revealed the number of mental health patients killed by euthanasia in the Netherlands had quadrupled in four years.
Official statistics said that 56 people received a lethal injection in 2015 because they were suffering “unbearably” from psychiatric problems. In 2011 there were just 13 such deaths recorded.
The overall number of deaths by euthanasia in the Netherlands increased by just over four per cent, rising from 5,306 to 5,561.
French Revolution martyr on course to become a saint
Pope Francis has recognised a miracle by Blessed Solomon Leclercq, a martyr killed in the French Revolution, clearing the way for him to become a saint.
Blessed Solomon Leclercq was born in 1745, the son of a wealthy wine merchant. He entered the order of the De La Salle Brothers in his early 20s.
Brother Solomon went into hiding in 1792 when religious orders were outlawed following the French Revolution.
In August of that year the Legislative Assembly had closed all Catholic schools in Paris and outlawed the wearing of religious habits or vestments in public. On August 18 the assembly suppressed all Catholic institutions and religious orders. Priests had to swear an oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which had taken over the Church, or leave the country. Some 25,000 priests left.
In the first week of September more than 1,200 people were killed in what became known as the September Massacres. Blessed Solomon was arrested, taken to a Carmelite monastery which the authorities had converted into a prison and executed.
He was among nearly 200 Catholics who refused to abandon their faith.
Pope visits centre for disabled
Last Friday Pope Francis made a surprise visit to a community in Rome that cares for people with disabilities. The Il Chicco centre is associated with the L’Arche network of communities set up by Jean Vanier.
It houses both carers and beneficiaries. The Pope’s visit was part of his “Mercy Friday” initiative. On previous Fridays he has made trips to a nursing home, a community for recovering addicts and a refugee centre.
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