Former Netherlands Prime Minister Dries van Agt and his wife, Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg, died holding hands after undergoing double euthanasia earlier this month.
The couple was 93 years old and suffered from serious health complications. Dries suffered a stroke in 2019 and his condition had worsened in recent years.
Eugenie did not want to live without her husband, to whom she had been married for 70 years, and therefore requested permission to die with her husband.
In fact, they traveled the world together for work and were inseparable for decades; So they knew they didn’t want to live without each other.
Van Agt was Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1977 to 1982. In recent years he founded The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian human rights organization. His final life decision is also notable for another reason: he was Catholic.
Rights Forum director Gerard Jonkman said the former prime minister “always made his own decisions” and that he “did not care whether his views were completely in line with those of any party or institution.”
The story of this former prime minister and his wife has moved people around the world as double euthanasia is not very common.
And this is confirmed by the numbers. For example, in 2022, almost 9,000 euthanasias were performed in the country and only 29 couples underwent the procedure.
So-called euthanasia is permitted in very few countries and requests from couples are very unusual.
The procedure has been legalized in the Netherlands since 2002, but is granted under six conditions, including unbearable suffering and no prospect of recovery. In addition, doctors must ensure that the patient’s decision is voluntary.
Surveys have shown that some couples’ desire for double euthanasia is increasing among the Dutch, but the use is not as common due to difficulties in obtaining approval.
You might be interested in: