Australia does not allow people suffering from terminally ill diseases or from extreme pain the right to take their own lives.

Should we have the right to die by voluntary euthanasia?

New reports suggest a 17-year-old Dutch girl who was reportedly euthanised after being raped as a child actually died after refusing food and water.

Noa Pothoven was reported to have been “legally euthanised” but it turns out her request had been denied.

Politico reports that the teen died at the weekend several days after refusing all fluids and foods. Her parents and doctors agreed that they would not force feed her.

Noa, from Arnhem, said in a social media post a day before her death last Sunday that she “breaths but no longer lives”.

Noa wrote an autobiography called Winning or Learning, after sexual assaults and rapes as a small girl led her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anorexia.

She was attacked three times as a youngster.

The first two incidents were molestations when she attended children’s parties aged 11 and 12 before she was raped by two men when she was 14 in the Elderveld neighbourhood of the city.

For years she never revealed the horrific abuse because it left her feeling ashamed, the 17-year-old said.

“I deliberated for quite a while whether or not I should share this, but decided to do it anyway,” she wrote. “Maybe this comes as a surprise to some, given my posts about hospitalisation, but my plan has been there for a long time and is not impulsive.

“I will get straight to the point: within a maximum of 10 days I will die. After years of battling and fighting, I am drained. I have quit eating and drinking for a while now, and after many discussions and evaluations, it was decided to let me go because my suffering is unbearable.”

“Out of fear and shame, I relive the fear, that pain every day. Always scared, always on my guard. And to this day my body still feels dirty.

“My house has been broken into, my body, that can never be undone. “

Noa spent her final hours saying goodbye to her heartbroken friends and family.

Last year, she revealed she had been admitted to hospital in a critical condition after her anorexia left her organs on the brink of failure.

Doctors placed her into a medically-induced coma to feed her through tubes.

Dutch minister Lisa Westerveld, who first made contact with Noa in December after her newspaper interview, visited the 17-year-old before her death.

She said: “It was nice to see her again. It is also very unreal. Noa was incredibly strong and very open. I will never forget her. We will continue her struggle. “

If you are experiencing mental health issues or suicidal feelings contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or BeyondBlue 1300 224 636. If it is an emergency please call 000.