The former Dutch Prime Minister and his wife had their lives ended in a double euthanasia last week according to media reports.
Dries van Agt, Prime Minister in the Netherlands between 1977 and 1982 and the first leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal party, and his wife Eugenie, were both euthanised on Monday 5 February, both aged 93.
Double euthanasia remains relatively rare in the Netherlands, where euthanasia has been legal since 2002. The first cases were reported by the Regional Euthanasia Review Commitees (RTE), which revealed in its 2020 annual report that there were 13 instances of double euthanasia where both members of the couple were euthanised simultaneously (26 people in total). The number increased to 16 couples (32 people) in 2021 and 29 couples (58 people) in 2022.
There were 8,720 cases of euthanasia (and assisted suicide) in the Netherlands in 2022, accounting for 5.1% of all deaths in the Netherlands in that year. Euthanasia deaths in 2022 represent a 13.7% increase on 2021.
Under Dutch law, there is no requirement that a person be terminally ill in order to end their life by euthanasia but they must be thought to be suffering unbearably.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “This is a terribly sad case in which an elderly couple ended their own lives with the state’s support. We do not celebrate suicide in ordinary circumstances and we should not celebrate it in this instance. Whatever stage of life we’re living through, our lives have dignity and it is not up to the state to decide that some lives are worth living and some are not”.
