Noa Pothoven: 'no question of euthanasia' says health minister after teen dies at home CORRECTED

Noa Pothoven: 'no question of euthanasia' says health minister after teen dies at home CORRECTED
Copyright instagram/winnenofleren - Noa Pothoven with the book she wrote
By Euronews
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

A Dutch teenager who has detailed her struggles with sexual assault, depression, and anorexia has died at home but reports of 'euthanasia' incorrect.

ADVERTISEMENT

_This article has been updated to correct our initial reporting of this story. In our article on Tuesday evening we incorrectly wrote that 17 year old Noa Pothoven died by legal euthanasia. _

A Dutch teenager who has detailed her struggles with sexual assault, depression, and anorexia has died, according to a family statement.

Noa Pothoven made a "sad last post" to social media last week in which she announced she would "die within 10 days".

The 17-year-old wrote about her problems in her award-winning biography "Winning or Learning".

She wrote in her book that she was first assaulted at the age of 11 and raped by two men when she was just 14-years-old, facts she hid from her parents because she was ashamed.

In her last post on Instagram, the young girl wrote that she had stopped eating and drinking and that her suffering was "unbearable".

She wrote that her decision was "final" and that she had not been alive for a while.

"I breathe but no longer live," she wrote.

Pothoven wrote on Instagram last week that after many "conversations and reviews it had been decided".

The teen described herself as a "mental illness warrior".

Family statement and clinic response

A statement from the parents responded to reports by various media outlets - one of them being Euronews - that fallaciously stated her death was the result of a lawful euthanasia.

We, parents of Noa Pothoven, are deeply saddened by the death of our daughter. Noa had chosen not to eat and drink anymore. We would like to emphasize that this was the cause of her death. She died in our presence last Sunday. We kindly ask everyone to respect our privacy so we as a family can mourn.
The parents of Noa Pothoven
Via De Gelderlander - who were requested to release it

A statement from the Ministry of Health was released on Thursday morning.

‘We are all deeply moved by the death of Noa at 17 years of age, and our hearts go out to her family and friends,’ the Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, Hugo de Jonge, has said. We are in touch with her family, who have told us that, despite international media reports to the contrary, there is no question of euthanasia in this case. The family must now be allowed to grieve for Noa in peace. Questions about her death and the care she has received are understandable, but can only be answered once the facts have been established. I have asked the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) to look into this.”

De Levenseindekliniek is an end of life clinic in the Netherlands. They, too, released a statement as they were contacted by Euronews to comment on the controversy surrounding this case. 

"De Levenseindekliniek is approached from all over the world for a reaction to the death of seventeen-year-old Noa Pothoven. However, due to privacy rules, we cannot make any statements about this.

To put an end to incorrect reporting (in foreign media in particular) about her death, we refer to the statement made by friends of Noa this afternoon: Noa Pothoven did not die of euthanasia. To stop her suffering, she has stopped eating and drinking.

De Levenseindekliniek deals exclusively with euthanasia and does so explicitly within the Dutch legal framework."

**If you struggle with any of the issues raised in this article, you can find a list of helplines in Europe by clicking here. **

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Dutch government has spent €160 million dealing with the downing of MH17, report finds

Court orders Netherlands to stop exporting fighter jet parts to Israel over Gaza war

Dutch universities plan to limit amount of international students