Belgian doctors to euthanise healthy 24-year-old woman suffering from depression

Belgian doctors have given the green signal to perform euthanasia on a healthy 24-year-old woman, who suffers from serious depression.

The woman, who is identified only as Laura, will receive a lethal injection from health experts despite not suffering from any life-threatening illness.

"Death feels to me not as a choice. If I had a choice, I would choose a bearable life, but I have done everything and that was unsuccessful. I played all my life with these thoughts of suicide, I have also done a few attempts. But then there is someone who needs me, and I don't want to hurt anyone. That has always stopped me," she was quoted as saying by Belgian newspaper De Morgen.

Laura has reportedly had "suicidal thoughts" for no less than three years, according to local media. The date for her euthanasia has not been set.

Belgium legalised euthanasia in 2002 and became the second country in the world after the Netherlands to do so. The legislation grants permission to Belgian doctors to "help patients" die if they formally seek to end their lives because of unbearable pain.

It is estimated that about five people end their lives with the help of doctors every day in Belgium, with a sharp increase in recent months.

"What I'm going to say on that last moment, I do not know yet. I have extensively written ideas in letters to my friends. I think everything has already been appointed. Maybe I will finally figure it out with these words: 'those who are about to die salute you,'" Laura said.