A Dutch teenager traumatised by a childhood rape died at home after refusing food and drink but was not euthanised, a clinic said on Wednesday, dismissing "incorrect" media reports.
Noa Pothoven, 17, who won fame by writing a book about her long battle with anorexia, severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, died on Sunday. Pothoven said in a final Instagram post that she had "lost the will to fight".
The Levenseindekliniek, a clinic based in The Hague which specialises in euthanasia, released a statement to counter what it said was false media coverage of the story.
"To put an end to incorrect reporting (in foreign media in particular) about her death, we refer to the statement made by friends of Noa this afternoon: Noa Pothoven did not die of euthanasia," said the statement.
She had stopped eating and drinking "to stop her suffering", the clinic added.
News of her death was reported by some Dutch media on Monday. Some said Noa had contacted the Levenseindekliniek to ask about possible assisted suicide but that she had been turned away.
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However, the story went viral after incorrect international media reports that she had been euthanised. The false story became front-page news in Italy and also made waves in Poland.
The Netherlands is one of the few countries where assisted suicide is legal for all citizens older than 12, but with a strict set of conditions including that the patient's physical or mental suffering is unbearable.
The "Levenseindekliniek deals exclusively with euthanasia and does so explicitly within the Dutch legal framework," the clinic said in a statement.
The blonde-haired teen had announced her intention to die a few days earlier, in a post on her Instagram account, which has since been taken down.
"Let me get to the point. Within the next 10 days I'm going to die," she wrote.
"For a while now I've stopped eating and drinking and after many discussions... it is decided that I will be let go because my life is unbearable," the teen wrote.
Pothoven first caught the public's attention when she launched a book late last year called "Winning or Learning" in which she recounted her battle against mental illness, resulting in numerous suicide attempts.
When she was 11, she was sexually assaulted and at the age of 14, two men raped her in a field in the eastern Dutch city of Arnhem -- but she said in the book that she had been too afraid to tell her parents.
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