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Jolanda Fun, 33, is going to die next week

Anyonita
4 min readApr 19, 2024

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[Trigger warning: euthansia]

Jolanda Fun, a fit and healthy 33 year-old woman from The Netherlands, has scheduled her death. Poetically, she is choosing to die on what will be her 34th birthday.

Photo by Diego Lozano on Unsplash

According to Spiked, Fun has even prepared funeral invitations that read: “Born from love, let go in love. After a hard-fought life, she chose the peace she so longed for.”

In a paywalled interview with the Sunday Times, Fun explained why she wants to die. After struggling with a myriad of mental health problems so disruptive that she has not been able to hold down a job, her counsellor presented euthanasia as an option. Fun, who wants “to step out of life,”accepted.

In 2002, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia. The controversy surrounding Fun’s case? Most cases of euthanasia involved people who are terminally ill. However, the number of people choosing euthanasia on the grounds of mental health has steadily increased since 2010.

From the prolific cases of Dr Jack Kevorkian, who championed a terminal patient’s right to die by doctor-assisted suicide to difficult cases like that of Terri Schiavo, euthanasia has been hotly debated and dividing crowds.

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Anyonita
Anyonita

Written by Anyonita

American in Britain • Poet • Confessionalist exploring narrative essays, pop culture, parenthood, sex, relationships, race, travel, literature and food..

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