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A neurologist tried to prevent a Belgian woman, traumatized by the Islamic State’s depraved terror attack at Brussels airport, from committing suicide in a euthanasia clinic, arguing that more could have been done to help her – but was rejected when the 23-year-old Old’s mother supported her, it came forward.
Shanti De Corte suffered from depression and PTSD after ISIS lunatics detonated a bomb at Zaventem airport, killing 32 people and injuring more than 300 in March 2016.
The then 17-year-old escaped the explosion but was plagued by constant panic attacks – and despite attending a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp for rehabilitation and taking a series of antidepressants, she couldn’t shake the specter of depression and attempted suicide. shedding twice in 2018 and 2020.
Miss De Corte died on May 7 this year after two psychiatrists approved her request for euthanasia, her mother Marielle revealed.
Paul Deltenre, a neurologist at CHU Brugmann University Hospital in Brussels, appears to have intervened in the case to prevent the 23-year-old from being allowed to commit suicide, suggesting that euthanasia should not have taken place because other proposals had been taken for care. and claimed the decision was “premature”.
However, it appears he was overruled when Ms. De Corte’s mother supported her daughter’s choice, the report said. news broadcast 7Sur7.
The Antwerp public prosecutor opened an investigation, but then closed the case with the conclusion that the procedure for euthanasia had been respected.
Shanti De Corte never recovered from psychological trauma after narrowly escaping the 2016 Brussels airport attack
Shanti De Corte (left) is pictured with a friend in this image shared on a tribute page
The mother of 23-year-old Marielle described how she supported her daughter’s choice: ‘I told her that I didn’t want to lose her, but that I somehow understood her question. Then she made the click that she wanted to say goodbye to her family and friends and not just want to get out of life’
In her latest tragic but touching post on social media, Shanti wrote: “I laughed and cried. Until the last day. I loved and was allowed to feel what true love is. ‘Now I go away in peace. Know that I miss you already’
A plume of smoke rises over Brussels airport after the explosion of a third device at Zaventem Bruxelles International Airport
The 23-year-old’s mother told Belgian outlet VRT: ‘I told her that I didn’t want to lose her, but that somehow I understood her question. Then she made the click that she wanted to say goodbye to her family and friends and not just take her own life.
‘Something like that is really very difficult, but at that moment it’s all you can do for your child as a mother. Be there for her and try to support her.
“Somehow you keep hoping it gets even better, that she won’t, but at the same time I felt from the beginning that this was really what she wanted, I realized very well that the way Shanti has had to living in recent years is surviving, that it was not an option to continue living like this.’
Miss De Corte regularly recalled her experiences after the social media bombing and spoke of her struggles with her declining mental health.
In a message, she wrote, “I’m getting some meds for breakfast. And up to 11 antidepressants a day. I couldn’t live without it. With all the meds I take, I feel like a ghost that can’t feel anything anymore. Perhaps there were other solutions than medicines.’
According to her school psychologist, the 23-year-old suffered from severe depression before choosing to end her life.
She told the RTBF: ‘Some students react worse than others to traumatic events. And after interviewing her twice, I can tell you that Shanti De Corte was one of those vulnerable students.’
The psychologist referred Shanti to a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp, where the young woman visited regularly. But in 2018, she attempted suicide after a sudden decline in her mental state following an altercation with another patient who had sexually abused her.
In 2020 she made another failed suicide attempt, after which she contacted an organization that stands up for the right to ‘death in dignity’.
According to the RTBF, she asked them to perform euthanasia because of ‘unbearable psychiatric suffering’.
In the photo: people at Zaventem airport after an explosion in March 2016
Passengers were evacuated from the airport after the terrorist attack in March 2016
Police officers and soldiers check Brussels airport at the entrance after the attacks
Euthanasia, defined as the practice of intentionally ending a person’s life to relieve pain and suffering, is legal in Belgium for a person who is in ‘a medically meaningless state of constant and intolerable physical or mental suffering that cannot be relieved, as a result of a serious and incurable condition caused by illness or accident’.
Ms De Corte’s formal request to be euthanized was approved by two psychiatrists earlier this year, RTBF said.
“The woman was euthanized on May 7, 2022, surrounded by her family,” the report said.
In a final touching social media post on the day she was euthanized, Ms De Corte wrote: ‘I laughed and cried. Until the last day. I loved and was allowed to feel what true love is. Now I go away in peace. Know I miss you already.’