44 year old Belgian transsexual Nathan Verhelst chose to die yesterday by euthanasia after a botched sex change operation to complete his transformation from a woman into a man left him a 'monster'.
He allowed doctors to inject him with a lethal injection which killed him, on the grounds of
'unbearable psychological suffering'.
Born a girl named Nancy, his transformation into a man began with hormone therapy in 2009, followed by a mastectomy and finally an operation to construct a penis last year.
But the procedures did not go according to plan.
In the hours before his death he told Belgium's Het Laatse Nieuws:
I was the girl that nobody wanted. While my brothers were celebrated, I got a storage room above the garage as a bedroom.
'If only you had been a boy', my mother complained.
I was tolerated, nothing more.
'I was ready to celebrate my new birth (as a man). But when I looked in the mirror, I was disgusted with myself. My new breasts did not match my expectations and my new penis had symptoms of rejection. I do not want to be... a monster.'
His family learned of his decision this morning via a farewell letter.
Euthanasia carried out by doctors at the request of a patient is only legal in three European countries, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
