'I was about to end my life by assisted dying – doctor's last question changed everything'

A 22-year-old Dutch woman who had campaigned for the for four years changed her mind at the last possible second.

The woman, known as Romy, has suffered for many years from , eating disorders, and anorexia due to childhood abuse. She made the decision to end her life in accordance with , which permits euthanasia in some circumstances.

After Romy turned 18 she spend four years campaigning for her right to die in a process of voluntary assisted suicide. But in 2023, after convincing doctors, officials, and her family to let her go ahead with the procedure, she had a sudden change of heart.

Romy found herself lying in a hospital bed in the Dutch city of Leiden, with her mother by her side and her brother waiting in a nearby hospital garden to be told when she had died. Earlier that day she had even been shown the coffin in which she would be placed.

A doctor stood over the bed and explained for a final time the step-by-step process of administering the lethal injection that would end Romy’s life in accordance with the country’s euthanasia laws.

She described how it was not until that moment that the reality hit and that, while Romey gave the go-ahead for the procedure, she was sweating and her heart was pounding as she considered the grim finality of her decision.

As the doctor prepared to administer the lethal injection she asked Romy one final question, required of her by Dutch law - “Are you sure?”

It was at this point that Romy called the procedure off. She started to cry, as did her mother, as she told the doctor she was not sure after all.

However after backing out of the procedure the first time, Romy later asked to end her life again and a second injection was scheduled for a later date. But once again she changed her mind, after speaking to her psychiatrist, family and friends, she decided to continue with her trauma therapy. She now says she wants “nothing more than to live”.

“I don’t regret the journey. Because I’ve been so close to death, I see life as something valuable. It won’t always go well, but I now know there is light at the end of the tunnel,” she told Dutch outlet .

The young woman, who is now studying for a diploma in adult education, lives in a communal assisted living facility which she says has given her a new purpose.

When asked what gives her hope, she laughingly told reporters: “This is going to sound crazy: I genuinely enjoyed paying rent. It gives my life meaning.”

Last year 9068 people in the Netherlands died by euthanasia, accounting for around 5 per cent of total deaths in the country. The Netherlands became the first country to decriminalise active euthanasia and assisted suicide with the support of a doctor twenty-three years ago.

It is undertaken on a voluntary basis for patients who “earnestly and will full conviction” demonstrate that they are experiencing unbearable suffering without any possibility of improvement. Almost all cases take the form of a lethal injection administered by a doctor.

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