Sex-change op made me a monster

She wanted to be a man and went for a sex change operation. But the surgery failed and Mr Nathan Verhelst, born Nancy, felt it resulted in "a monster".

The Belgian, who was dejected and disappointed, decided death was the only option. He then "pleaded" for it, The Telegraph reported.

The 44-year-old was given legal euthanasia, most likely by lethal injection, on the grounds of "unbearable psychological suffering" on Monday afternoon.

"I was the girl that nobody wanted," Mr Verhelst told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper hours before his death.

"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."

Mr Verhelst had hormone therapy in 2009, followed by a mastectomy and surgery to construct a penis last year. But "none of these operations worked as desired". "I was ready to celebrate my new birth," he said.

"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."

Professor Wim Distelmans, a cancer specialist who carried out the euthanasia, is the same doctor who last December gave lethal injections to congenitally deaf twins who were frightened they were also going blind.

"The choice of Nathan Verhelst has nothing to do with fatigue of life," Prof Distelmans was quoted as saying.

"There are other factors that meant he was in a situation with incurable, unbearable suffering.

"Unbearable suffering for euthanasia can be both physical and psychological.

Counselling

"This was a case that clearly met the conditions demanded by the law. Nathan underwent counselling for six months."

The case will revive Belgium's debate over medical euthanasia as statistics show a steep year-on-year increase in the number of patients killed by doctors after a request to die.

Belgium recorded a record number of 1,432 cases of euthanasia last year, up 25 per cent from the previous year, and the country is currently deciding whether to extend "mercy killing" legislation to children.

Euthanasia carried out by doctors at the request of a patient is only legal in three European countries - the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

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