Noa Pothoven (Netherlands) was a 17-year-old Dutch mental health activist and novelist from Arnhem who died on June 2, 2019, following years of systemic neglect by psychiatric hospitals. She suffered from PTSD, severe depression, and anorexia after being sexually assaulted at the ages of 11 and 14. At the age of 16, she released an award-winning autobiography criticizing the inadequacies of youth psychiatric care in the Netherlands and actively advocated for improved mental health services for young people.
Despite years of hospitalizations and several treatment efforts, Noa was repeatedly refused the trauma-focused therapy she wanted. Institutions informed her that she was too young and her brain was not completely matured. Her family requested electroconvulsive treatment on her behalf, which was also denied due to her age. During hospitalizations, she was kept in isolation cells for lengthy periods of time, forced to wear a paper dress to avoid self-harm, and monitored constantly by cameras. In 2018, doctors put her in an induced coma to forcibly feed her through a tube. She stopped eating and drinking in May 2019, after exhausting all available treatments. Her family provided palliative home care and honored her wishes. She died in her home on June 2, 2019.
Her death was globally and inaccurately reported as state-sanctioned euthanasia. Her family, the Dutch health minister, and the medical association were all forced to publicly correct this while the family was grieving. She was not euthanized. She died because a psychiatric system denied her the specific care she needed, confined her against her will when it suited institutional convenience, and then refused treatment on bureaucratic grounds until there was nothing left to refuse. No institution or clinician has been held accountable.
Sources
Dutch teenager’s death ignites debate over euthanasia — CNN, June 8, 2019
Everyone Got the Dutch Teen ‘Euthanasia’ Story Wrong — Reason, June 5, 2019