The documentary that filmmaker Bart Hölscher made about the euthanasia of 17-year-old Milou will be submitted by the Netherlands for the Emmy Awards, the most important American television prizes.
From documentary Milou’s struggle continues tells about a girl who, after years of hopeless psychological suffering, opted for euthanasia. The film also pays attention to the reactions in the medical world and in The Hague politics to her self-chosen death.
“Milou’s wish was that she would be heard,” filmmaker Hölscher recently said at L1 News. “I think I did a good job. It fills me with joy that I was able to tell her story.”
The documentary makes it clear that the euthanasia of October 2, 2023 brings an end to years of suffering for Milou. At the age of 11 she was still a cheerful and caring girl, but then turned into what Hölscher calls “a traumatized teenager”. “A few turning points stood out, involving a hospital admission of her brother and sexual abuse, according to the filmmaker.
Depressed
Table of Contents
Milou becomes so depressed that she thinks about suicide, but she wants to spare those around her from the trauma of suicide. “Milou himself also said: ‘I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to suffer anymore,'” says Hölscher.
He is convinced that euthanasia was “a dignified end” for her and the redemption she longed for.
Anonymously
But Milou’s death had a “sour sequel”, as the filmmaker calls it. Fourteen psychiatrists and doctors, most of them anonymously, sent a letter to the Public Prosecution Service in which they urged a criminal preliminary investigation into the girl’s euthanasia.
Milou’s parents reacted with shock. According to Hölscher, they had the feeling that doctors, none of whom had ever spoken to them, wanted to question the euthanasia policy on their daughter’s back.
House of Representatives
The publicity that followed the letter also reached politicians. In June 2025, Member of Parliament Ria de Korte (NSC) submitted an initiative memorandum for a three-year moratorium on euthanasia for psychological suffering in young people. That temporary three-year stop did not come about, but it did lead to a lot of discussion in and outside the House of Representatives.
Milou’s own story seemed to be forgotten, says the filmmaker. He mainly concentrated on that and showed diary fragments, drawings and videos of Milou herself. Her parents, friends and therapists also have their say.
The documentary was first broadcast on TV in October last year and subsequently became the most viewed documentary on the NPO Doc theme channel. Since January 1, it can also be seen on the Limburg regional broadcaster L1.
The film is submitted for the Emmy Awards in the documentary category. The prizes will be awarded in September.