A Belgian man has been killed by medical euthanasia after claiming that a botched sex change operation had turned him into "a monster".
Nathan, born Nancy, Verhelst, 44, was given legal euthanasia, likely by lethal injection, on the grounds of "unbearable psychological suffering". Wim Distelmans, a cancer specialist, carried out the euthanasia.
Explaining his decision hours before his death, Verhelst said he was "the girl that nobody wanted".
He told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper: "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."
Verhelst had hormone therapy in 2009, followed by a mastectomy and surgery to construct a penis last year. However, "none of these operations worked as desired", he said. "I was ready to celebrate my new birth, 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."
