Paralympian puts spotlight on euthanasia

MARIEKE VERVOORT, a paralympic gold medalist from Belgium, died by euthanasia on Tuesday at the age of 40, which aroused fierce discussion on both domestic and overseas social networks. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

Discussing euthanasia is a tricky subject because suicide itself is a very polarizing topic. There are people who believe it is "wrong" to commit suicide under any circumstances, and there are people who believe that everyone should have the freedom to commit suicide, especially if a person is living in constant pain and suffering. A self-willed death for those suffering from constant torment is often regarded as different from suicide.

In most cases, people commit suicide because of untreated depression. In the majority of assisted-suicide cases, people simply try to help a person close to them to end the chronic suffering caused by a terminal illness.