Born hemiplegic, nearly blind, 43-year-old Lydie Imhoff was gradually losing the use of her limbs. In 2024, she made the decision to travel from her native France to Belgium to undergo euthanasia, for "fear of living in a dead body." Euthanasia is outlawed in France but has been legal under strict conditions in neighbouring Belgium since 2002.

I travelled with her early this year, on a final journey from the apartment in eastern France where she lived alone with her pet rabbit, to Brussels where her ashes have now been scattered.

Legal in Belgium while being very regulated euthanasia has become standard practice in Belgium, unlike France, where the debate is lively on the matter, and a law is yet to be voted. Many patients and right to die militants call for a law on euthanasia as a solution to end the suffering of patients, when doctors and treatments can no longer help them. 

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Story published on Agence France Presse