Why did Olympe want to get euthanized? YouTuber's doctor sheds light on Belgium's "death ward"

Olympe, a 23-year-old French YouTuber, told her followers that she was in Belgium to get euthanized to end her suffering from dissociative identity disorder and ADHD. However, Belgian doctors have refused to help her as the process can take years.

The young woman shares her mental health journey on the platform, where she has around 255,000 subscribers.

She claims to have 40 different personalities. In an Instagram post, she stated that her decision to get assistance on suicide is final. In the post, she wrote:

“This is not a debate. This is my life. It was a difficult decision for me to make.”

Though euthanasia (assisted suicide) is legal in Belgium, one of the doctors whom Olympe consulted told her that it could take months or years for a person to have access to the act.

The said doctor runs a channel where he talks about mental health issues caused by split personality disorders. The expert said that Belgium was worn out from playing the role of a “death ward” for France since euthanasia is banned in France. Medically assisted suicide in Belgium has been legal for the past two decades and around 2500 people get assisted suicide services every year.

Olympe shares that her dissociative personality disorder is the result of her past trauma including abuse and r**e

Olympe regularly posts on YouTube about the experience of living life with 40 different personalities who are distant from each other. She also debunks the clichés regarding the condition. The YouTuber also answers questions from viewers on ADHD and other disorders that she has.

This weekend, a social media post was relayed by French media where Olympe announced that she wanted to end her own life because she could not handle the burden of her psychological disorders anymore.

She shared that the trauma that triggered her mental health issues was also becoming too much to handle. The young YouTuber revealed that these traumas stemmed from child s**ual abuse, moving from one foster home to another, and gang r**e.

Olympe stated that she was already in contact with various doctors. She said that all of her other ‘alters’ or personalities identify with this name. Olympe stated:

“In the last quarter of 2023 I will have recourse to assisted suicide in Belgium. I am already in contact with the doctors.”

However, Yves de Locht, the Belgian doctor she recently spoke to, condemned the idea people have about booking an assisted suicide service in Belgium being easily accessible, as if the country were a “euthanasia dispenser”.

He confirmed:

“I haven’t yet seen her medical dossier but I’ve read her emails. She wants to meet me.”

The doctor further stated that they do not refuse to meet people who want to proceed with euthanasia. However, they usually explain to patients that the process can take up to months or even years.

Referring to the young YouTuber, De Locht said that she announced that she would end her life at the end of 2023 whic is too soon for the doctor to take up her case. He said he needs more information on her condition before deciding whether or not to meet her.

De Locht demonstrated that young people can be euthanized, but only after specialists certify that the disease the person is suffering from is incurable. In the case of a mental health disorder, psychiatrists will have to try other treatments and see how they turn out. Olympe might need to be hospitalized as well. So, all in all, it will be a lengthy and difficult process.

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Shanti De Corte's euthanasia in Belgium in 2022

In 2022, Belgium made it to the headlines when news of Shanti De Corte, another 23-year-old woman controversially choosing to end her life, emerged. The woman was suffering from intolerable mental distress as well as depression, triggered by the trauma of being stuck in the 2016 ISIS terror bombing that took place at Brussels airport, as she waited to board a flight to Rome for a school trip.

Suffering from a terminal or painful physical disease was not what prompted her to resort to euthanasia, but rather it was because of a mental health problem, and doctors also helped her go through the process.

A Brussels neurologist, Paul Deltenre, complained that Shanti was prematurely euthanized. The doctor claimed that the patient could resort to treatments and other care options that had not been explored or tried. This led to an investigation of the case by Belgian prosecutors.