In October 2023, Dutch doctor Menno Oosterhoff made a home visit to a 17-year-old patient named Milou Verhoof. Her preparations to end her life included choosing her own evening gown and high heels for the coffin in which she would be buried, according to reports. Years later, that procedure has triggered an intense legal and professional battle across the Netherlands.
The Final Home Visit
A group of 14 doctors and psychiatrists submitted a private appeal to the Dutch public prosecutor urging a preliminary criminal inquiry into Milou’s euthanasia. The authors wanted to investigate how heavily Milou’s parents and two psychiatrists might have guided the minor’s decision to seek euthanasia, raising questions about whether she retained mental capacity.
Trauma and a Downward Spiral
Milou’s life was shaped by severe psychological trauma that began when she was 11 years old. Her mother, Mireille, told The Telegraph that her daughter had enjoyed a cheerful, sensitive middle-class upbringing before her older brother, Daan—who has Down’s syndrome—became critically ill and spent a month in a coma.
The ordeal left Milou plagued by nightmares and flashbacks. Following a rape within a two-year window, she plunged into self-harm, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
During a later stay as an inpatient in a secure psychiatric facility, Milou was sexually abused again by another patient. The years that followed were dominated by repeated treatments, medication, psychiatric admissions and suicide attempts.
Mireille Verhoof told The Telegraph that they never expected trouble from Milou, describing her as sweet and always laughing, a trait that she believed made her vulnerable.
Seeking Out Dr. Oosterhoff
As her condition persisted, Milou repeatedly requested euthanasia, convinced that her suffering had become unbearable. While most psychiatrists rejected those requests, arguing she was simply too young, while another delayed her application—a blow that left the teenager feeling silenced—Milou ultimately sought out Mr Oosterhoff after learning about him through media coverage.
Ever since the Netherlands legalized euthanasia in 2002 for individuals making a ‘voluntary and well considered’ plea to halt ‘unbearable’ agony with ‘no prospect of improvement’ and ‘no reasonable alternative’, Mr Oosterhoff has increasingly focused on psychiatric patients.
While supporters have lauded him as a compassionate doctor who helps patients whose psychological suffering has become unbearable, critics denounced him as crossing an ethical line. Contrary to many of his peers, Mr Oosterhoff maintains that profound mental health disorders can prove just as untreatable and agonizing as terminal cancer.
Retaliation and Disciplinary Fallout
In response to the letter, Milou’s parents are now filing a disciplinary case, arguing the letter has seriously harmed them.
International Parallels in Barcelona
Meanwhile, parallel legal battles regarding assisted dying have unfolded internationally.
Castillo had been confined to a wheelchair since jumping out a window of a fifth-floor building in 2022, traumatized by being raped by three men at a state-supervised facility for vulnerable youth.
