In the Netherlands, the number of citizens undergoing euthanasia due to mental illnesses – such as dementia, depression, or autism – has seen a sharp, shocking rise. According to reports, euthanasia is also being carried out on minors.

A new report from The Times has exposed a massive 60 per cent rise in Dutch euthanasia cases for “psychological suffering” – mental illness. The report also reveals that from 2023 to 2024, the nation saw a 10 percent spike in all euthanasia deaths. Last year alone, almost 10,000 Dutch people were killed by “assisted suicide.” Another report from Unherd notes that

in 2024, the Netherlands reported 219 cases of euthanasia for “psychological suffering,” and of the 219, 30 were for patients aged 18-39.

Although there were a few specifics in these reports, they revealed that

an „unspecified number of minors” were also euthanized, and that one boy – aged between 16 and 18 – was euthanized for autism,

– according to Slay News. “The psychiatrists decided that his condition was untreatable, despite not having tried all available therapeutic models, and thought he might attempt suicide again if his application for euthanasia was not granted,” the report explains. A doctor also concluded that the boy’s wish to be euthanised did not stem from his autism, but instead from the suffering caused by the consequences of autism, which some may consider a distinction without a difference. Another woman with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was euthanized because she suffered an injury that prevented her from cleaning.

The Netherlands legalised euthanasia in 2002; however, numerous cases have since come to light that cast doubt on whether it is truly applied with sufficient caution and whether its application is justified at all.

In 2013, the Daily Mail reported that a Dutch woman had been killed by medics via lethal injection, because she feared she could not cope with becoming blind. One of the health specialists analysing her case insisted that her case was exceptional. “She was, for example, obsessed by cleanliness and could not stand being unable to see spots on her clothes,” the specialist wrote. In 2014, the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition described how the Dutch media had reported another death: a physically healthy man (63), who was working for a government institution, died by euthanasia. He had been treated for a long time for depression, but the treatment didn’t work out. According to psychiatrist Gerty Casteelen, this man decided that he wanted to die. The night before his death, he gave a farewell reception for his colleagues. The day after, Casteelen went to his house and gave him a lethal injection. In 2015, a Dutch euthanasia clinic was reprimanded for euthanizing a healthy 47-year-old woman who said that a ringing in her ears – a condition known as tinnitus – was unbearable.

Also in 2015, an 80-year-old woman was euthanized against the wishes of her caretakers at the nursing home where she resided. Her family had petitioned a Dutch court to approve her death after her care needs had become a burden.

However, the woman could not consent to “assisted suicide” due to purportedly suffering from some form of dementia.

Her family claimed she would have wanted death, and, despite strong opposition from the management of the nursing home, medical practitioners, and the woman’s doctor, a Utrecht judge agreed.

Despite this track record and the earlier shocking incidents, the latest report has repeatedly caused concern in the Netherlands.

The regional euthanasia review committee, RTE, stated that physicians must exercise “great caution” with psychiatric conditions. According to a report from the Guardian: six deaths by euthanasia in 2024 were judged by the RTE „to have lacked due care.” The report noted that “some experts are concerned, especially regarding younger people.” Damiaan Denys, a professor of psychiatry at Amsterdam University Medical Center, told The Times: “Although the absolute numbers are still low, there is a recent, enormous increase in requests and euthanasia performed in patients with psychological complaints, especially in young people under the age of 30. This is controversial because it is difficult to determine with certainty whether a young person with a still-developing brain definitely wants to die, whether he truly believes that life is hopeless and without prospects, and whether all treatment options have already been depleted.”