The influencer Olympe revealed at the beginning of the year that she had started the process of resorting to assisted suicide in Belgium, in connection with her state of mental health.
On January 11, Olympe, a French youtuber, revealed on her instagram account his desire to have recourse to medically assisted suicide in Belgium in the “last quarter of 2023”, in connection with his state of mental health. For several years, the 23-year-old young woman has been directing her content on her mental health, and in particular the dissociative identity disorder from which she suffers.
This disorder is characterized by the cohabitation, within the same person, of several identities which can in turn take control of the patient, according to the MSD Manual. Olympe thus indicates that she coexists with a dozen “alters”, who occasionally appear in her videos.
A long and complicated process
On Instagram, Olympe indicated that she was “exhausted” by her “troubles”, her “past”, and her “brain which does not work well”. “I do not have a fairly positive base of life”, concludes the young woman, who indicated at the same time that she had been the victim of school harassment for 14 years, of five rapes during adolescence, of a gang rape and mass cyberbullying.
The Brussels general practitioner Yves de Locht affirms with our colleagues from the Parisian that Olympe contacted him by email, with a view to initiating the steps preceding euthanasia. The specialist, however, questions the timetable put forward by the young woman, recalling that a request for assisted suicide for psychiatric reasons is long and complicated.
In 2002, Belgium adopted a law decriminalizing euthanasia under certain conditions. According to belgian federal public health service, it must be carried out by a doctor. In addition, the patient must be able to clearly express his will, find himself in a hopeless medical situation and report “constant, unbearable and unappeasable physical and/or psychological suffering”.
On May 7, a 23-year-old woman had recourse to assisted suicide in Belgium. In perfect physical health, she was nevertheless able to benefit from the device because she suffered from a deep depression, caused by her presence during the attack perpetrated on March 22, 2016 at Brussels airport.
“Psychiatric cases are complicated. (…) Psychiatrists say that with regular treatment, there are possibilities for improvement, whatever the disease. Even for schizophrenics or people with AD “Olympus, there are possibilities for improvement. It is very rare that a psychiatric illness is incurable”, specifies in The Parisian Yves de Locht.
“My life is not a movie”
This development by the Brussels doctor was also an opportunity to silence many inaccuracies circulating on the Belgian model. Yves de Locht recalls that a control commission investigates each case, and that “the euthanasia vending machine does not work!”.
For the specialist, it is now time for France to change its law, especially since Belgium “does not want to become the deathbed of the French”. In April 2021, on BFMTV, the doctor had already estimated that it “is high time for French law to evolve”.
Last September, Emmanuel Macron officially announced the creation of a citizen consultation on the end of life, made up of French people drawn by lot. They will deliver their conclusions in March, indicating whether or not the law should be changed. In September, the National Ethics Advisory Committee said it was in favor of legalizing “active assistance in dying”.
Olympe assures that her decision was made with a “rested head”, and called on her subscribers not to question her choice. “My life is not a movie, we can’t debate the end, it’s not human to do that,” said the young woman.
