Utrecht woman starves to death while trying to live on light; Prosecutor investigating
A 62-year-old woman died in a group home in Utrecht last week. The exact cause of her death is still under investigation, but initial results indicate she starved to death. She was one of four people living in a group home called Contact & Muziek, the members of which believe they can live on light instead of food, according to their website.
The Public Prosecutor suspects the remaining three members of Contact & Muziek of negligence in not providing sufficient assistance when one of their housemates found herself in a life threatening situation, AD reports. The Prosecutor is investigating whether the other three inhabitants can be prosecuted for not offering the woman medical care.
There are "circumstances" in this ase that ask for further investigation, a spokesperson for the Prosecutor said to the newspaper. No traces of violence or anything else to indicate a crime were found on the body, but the Prosecutor believes that the woman was deprived of the necessary medical care because her housemates did not help her.
According to the Contact & Muziek website, the four members started "light feeding", which apparently involves not eating any food, in 2014. "A particularly inspiring process, which we learn a lot from and have many new experiences with each other and experience what eating does to you. Very nice to experience and go through", the website reads.
Jaap Sijmons, professor at Utrecht University and a healthcare attorney, thinks that the Prosecutor has a case. The woman's housemates should have called emergency services when the woman's life was in danger. "For this the consent of that person is not necessary" he said to AD. "It does not matter if the woman rejected regular healthcare. That does not have to be proven either. Even if that was the case, no one should take irresponsible risks if someone's life is in danger."
