A young woman who survived the Brussels airport terror attack has sadly died after choosing assisted suicide.
Shanti De Corte passed away on May 7 after two psychiatrists approved her request to be euthanised. The 23-year-old struggled with severe depression and PTSD following the ISIS bombing in 2016 that killed 32 and injured over 300.
Shanti was walking through the departures lounge of the Belgian airport in Zaventem on March 22, six years ago, with her school classmates ahead of a trip to Italy when terrorists detonated a bomb. She was just 17 at the time and managed to escape the harrowing explosion, which was followed by two further detonations.
Despite running free and physically unharmed, Shanti was left with constant panic attacks and bouts of dark depression as the psychological effects of what she saw took a grip of her life, the MailOnline reports.
She attended a psychiatric hospital in her home town of Antwerp for rehabilitation, and also took a range of anti-depressant medications, but attempted suicide on two different occasions in 2018 and 2020. Her heartbroken mother Marielle told Belgian outlet VRT of her daughter's pain earlier this week and said: "That day really cracked her, she never felt safe after that.
"She didn't want to go anywhere where other people were, out of fear. She also had frequent panic attacks and she never got rid of it."
Meanwhile, Shanti often detailed her experiences after the bombing on social media and spoke candidly about her mental health struggles, the Mirror reports.
In one post, she wrote: "I get a few medications for breakfast. And up to 11 antidepressants a day. I couldn't live without it.
"With all the medications I take, I feel like a ghost that can't feel anything anymore. Maybe there were other solutions than medications."
Her school psychologist told RTBF how Shanti had been struggling with severe depression before she chose to end her life. The psychologist had referred Shanti to a psychiatric hospital in Antwerp, which she regularly attended, but in 2018 she tried to take her own life after a sudden decline in her mental state.
"There are some students who react worse than others to traumatic events. And having interviewed her twice, I can tell you that Shanti De Corte was one of those fragile students," said the school psychologist.
Two years later, she tried to take her own life again and, afterwards, reached out to an organisation that defends the right to "death in dignity". According to RTBF, Shanti asked them to perform euthanasia for "unbearable psychiatric suffering".
Euthanasia is defined as the practice of intentionally ending a person's life to relieve pain and suffering. It's legal in Belgium for an individual who is in "a medically futile condition of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident".
Shanti's formal request to be euthanised was approved earlier this year by two psychiatrists, according to RTBF. "The woman was euthanised on May 7, 2022, surrounded by her family," the report said.
Hoewever, Antwerp prosecutors have reportedly begun an investigation after receiving complaints from a neurologist at the UZC Brugman academic clinical hospital in Brussels. The neurologist said the decision to euthanise Shanti "was made prematurely", it's claimed.
The Federal Commission for the Control and Evaluation of Euthanasia in Belgium had no concerns over the case, but neurologist Paul Deltenre argued that there were still different modalities of care and treatment available to Shanti that were not tried, it's reported.
Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.
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