The 22-year-old tells the question that saved her life just a few moments before the assisted suicide

Seconds before a young Dutch woman was about to voluntarily end her life, she changed her mind.

Romy, 22, who suffered from clinical depression, eating disorders and anorexia due to childhood abuse, made the harrowing decision to end her life in accordance with legislation in the Netherlands, which allows euthanasia in circumstances certain.

She decided not to go through with it at the last moment.

After turning 18, Romy campaigned for four years for her right to die through voluntary assisted dying (VAD) to doctors, officials and her family.

But in 2023, when she found herself lying in a hospital bed in the Dutch city of Leiden, she had a sudden change of heart.

Earlier that day, she had seen the coffin in which she would be taken to the morgue.

Her mother was by her side and her brother waited in the hospital garden for her to finish.

The last question she was asked by the doctor

The doctor stood over her and explained for the last time the step-by-step process of what she would do as part of the lethal injection process under her country’s euthanasia laws.

Romy gave the doctor the green light, but she was sweating and her heart was pounding as she thought about the outcome of what was about to happen, she says.

As the doctor opened up to administer the lethal injection, she was asked one final question to comply with Dutch law – “Are you sure?”

Romy, whose last name has been withheld, wasn’t sure.

She started crying and so did her mother, and decided to call it all off.

‘I don’t regret the trip’: Romy’s life now

After initially withdrawing from her euthanasia, Romy sought to end her life once again and was scheduled to receive a lethal injection at a later date.

However, with the continued support of her psychiatrist, family and friends, she decided to continue her trauma therapy and now says she wants “nothing more than to live”.

“I don’t regret the trip. Because I have been so close to death, I see life as something worthwhile. It won’t always go well, but now I know there is light at the end of the tunnel,” she told the Dutch newspaper NRC.

Today, Romy is studying for a degree in adult education and lives in community assisted living.

When the publication asked what gives her hope, she laughed, “This is going to sound crazy: I really enjoyed paying the rent. It gives my life meaning.”

Euthanasia accounts for five percent of deaths in the Netherlands

Twenty-three years ago, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to decriminalize active euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Euthanasia is performed on a voluntary basis for patients who “earnestly and with complete conviction” demonstrate that they are experiencing unbearable suffering with no possibility of improvement.

Last year, 9,068 people in the Netherlands died by euthanasia, an increase from 8,720 in 2022, accounting for more than five percent of all deaths in the country.

Almost all cases of euthanasia involve a lethal injection administered by a physician.

Is VAD legal in Australia?

VAD is legal in all Australian states except the Northern Territory and will be available in the ACT from 3 November 2025.

While the laws in each state vary slightly, they share similarities.

A person is entitled if they; are 18 years of age or over, are an Australian citizen or permanent resident, have VAD decision-making capacity, act voluntarily and without obligation, have a sustained demand for VAD, have an illness, disease or medical condition that is advanced and will cause death or is incurable (time frames vary between states) and is persistent suffering that cannot be alleviated in a way that the person finds tolerable.

A person does not qualify for VAD just because of a disability or mental illness – they must meet all the other criteria to access VAD.

If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.