The former Dutch prime minister resorts to double euthanasia with his wife

The former Dutch prime minister resorts to double euthanasia with his wife

Dries Van Agt died on Monday 5 February together with his wife. The couple resorted to “duo euthanasia”, a procedure increasingly requested in the Netherlands.

They were both 93 years old. Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Dries Van Agt and his wife Eugénie Van Agt-Krekelberg both died on Monday 5 February. A planned death, given that they had chosen to resort to euthanasia together, authorized in their country.

The couple couldn’t ‘live without each other’

From 1977 to 1982 Dries Van Agt was Prime Minister of the Netherlands. But in 2019 he suffered a brain hemorrhage. His brain is “permanently altered”, and had since been greatly weakened according to the Rights Forum, a research center he founded. Questioned by the Dutch television channel NOS, the director of the Rights Forum, Gerardo Jonkmanindicated that Dries and Eugénie van Agt were both very ill but “We couldn’t live without each other”they who have been married for 70 years.


Read also: End of life : the Citizens’ Convention announces the 10 main paths of reflection

This “two-way euthanasia” is increasingly used in the Netherlands. The first cases dating back to 2020, by 2021, represented 5.1% of all euthanasia deaths in the country, as noted SHE.

In the world, the Netherlands was the first country to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2002. However, the practice has a very specific legal framework: it can only be carried out at the request of the patient and only when he has reached its goal. “Unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement”.


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Source: Madmoizelle

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