The news has resonated with people who have experienced struggles similar to Zoraya’s. “This broke a part of me,” said one person on Reddit, who often posts about having suicidal thoughts. “What if getting better is not possible. What if I should just die today?” 

Another poster wrote: “this has left me terrified cuz I’m autistic myself and I’m scared. . . my brain is thinking, ‘is it going to be a guaranteed ending for me and other autistic women? I don’t want that, though! I like my life. . .  this is scary!’ ”

The fact is an increasing number of people suffering from mental illness in the Netherlands are choosing to end their lives. Zoraya is right that the assisted dying law has been around for years, but even as recently as 2010, there were only two recorded cases of medically assisted suicide that involved psychiatric suffering. Last year, there were 138.

I told Zoraya more than once that I understood her suffering, but hoped she wouldn’t go through with her decision to kill herself. It was hard to hear the news that she had died—that the society in which she lived had given up on a young person who had so much to live for and so many years ahead.