In what is only the most recent instance of double euthanasia in the Netherlands, a dedicated couple who went on to spend their whole lives together after first meeting when they were little children have passed away side by side.
Both Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen, who were 70 and 71 years old respectively, had been married for over half a century until they took their own lives by means of a fatal injection at the same time in the beginning of June.
In the last moments of their life, the couple was surrounded by friends and family, including their son, who had a difficult time accepting the choice that his parents had made to end their lives without more suffering.
When asked about his response, Jan remarked, “You don’t want to let your parents pass away on your watch.” The words “Better times will come, better weather” were said by our kid, but they were not for me. “So there have been tears,” he remarked. Just before to her passing, Els made the following statement: “There is no other solution.”
January, who worked as a cargo boat operator, had been experiencing terrible back pain for more than twenty years. Meanwhile, in 2022, his wife was diagnosed with dementia, which became so incapacitating that she struggled to construct sentences. Jan had been suffering from severe back pain for over twenty years.
In an interview with the BBC, Jan said, “I’ve lived my life, and I don’t want pain anymore.” Due to the fact that we have experienced this life, we are becoming older. It is our opinion that it must be halted.
After meeting for the first time in kindergarten, the pair went on to have a lifetime connection. Although Els went on to become a primary school teacher, Jan went on to become a member of the national youth hockey team of the Netherlands before beginning his training to become a sports coach.
Both of them had a deep love for the ocean, and they spent a significant portion of their lives living aboard boats.
The two individuals decided to transform their mutual passion into a job by purchasing a cargo boat and establishing a firm that specializes in the transportation of products.
While they were living on the water, they had a kid who attended boarding school during the week. They would take him sailing on vacations when they were not on the water.
Jans’ back discomfort grew severe after more than a decade of working with hard lifting and hands-on labor, and shortly thereafter, the pair relocated back to land and moved into a caravan.
His surgery in 2003 did not significantly reduce his agony, and as a result, he was compelled to cease working.
Jans’ physical constraints and the reduced quality of life that they resulted in inspired the pair to start thinking about assisted dying, and then they joined NVVE, which is the Netherlands’ ‘right to pass’ organization. Els was still working as a teacher at the time.
The year 2018 marked Els’ retirement, and she was starting to exhibit the early symptoms of dementia, a condition that her father had suffered from and ultimately passed away from.
It wasn’t until November 2022 that she received a formal diagnosis, and as the condition worsened over time, she eventually found herself having difficulty constructing phrases.
Due to Els’ dementia, which might generate question about a patient’s competence to grant permission, the couple’s general practitioner, like many other physicians in the Netherlands, was uneasy with accepting their case for euthanasia. This was because of the fact that Els’ dementia.
The couple decided to seek assistance from the Centre of Expertise on Euthanasia, which provides guidance on assisted passing and operates a mobile clinic that performs operations in the comfort of the patients’ own homes.
Els and Jan spent the day with their son and grandkids before it was time for them to go to their appointment.
Els went for a stroll on the beach with her kid as they played games and spoke to each other.
“I remember that we were having dinner in the evening, and I got tears in my eyes just watching us all having that final dinner together,” he added. “It was a very emotional experience for me.”
On the day that they were scheduled to pass away, Els and Jan spent their last two hours with their loved ones during their dying hours.
They took use of the opportunity to talk about their past experiences and listen to music, with Els listening to Travis’s “Idlewild” and Jan listening to “Now and Then” by the Beatles.
Immediately after that, their son said that the medical professionals arrived, and that “everything happened quickly.” The medical professionals carried out their operations, and then the event took place in “just a matter of minutes.”
On June 3, the couple passed away together after receiving injections that were intended to be fatal at the same time from two different physicians.
The number of individuals who passed away as a result of euthanasia in the Netherlands increased by 348 to 9,068 in 2023.
29 couples were among the 8,720 persons who passed away as a result of euthanasia in the Netherlands in the year 2022. The year 2021 saw the passings of sixteen spouses. Nine were present in the year 2018.
Elke Swart, a spokesman for the Expertisecentrum Euthanasie, said to the Guardian that every request for joint euthanasia from a couple is still evaluated based on stringent individual standards, rather than being evaluated jointly.
In a case that was publicized earlier this year and was similar to the one involving Jan and Els, a couple who had been together for fifty years collectively made the decision that they wished to pass away simultaneously.
Monique Wessels, who was 74 years old, was afflicted with dementia, while Loes Wasmoeth, who was 88 years old, was suffering from a muscle condition.
The term “duo euthanasia” came into the public eye in February when it was revealed that Dries Van Agt, a former prime minister, had passed away in this manner with his wife Eugenie, whom he had been married to for seven decades.
Both were in a precarious state of health for some time after van Agt had a brain hemorrhage in 2019, and they believed that it would be more beneficial for them to pass away together due to their elderly age and deteriorating physical condition.
At the time, the pro-euthanasia organization known as NVVE said that the manner in which the Van Agts passed away is an excellent example of dying with dignity while maintaining control.
In 2002, the Netherlands and Belgium became the first nations in Europe to legalize euthanasia, which is defined as the voluntary passing of a patient with the assistance of a physician.
In the Netherlands, the course of action is subject to stringent regulations. It is necessary for a physician and an impartial expert to determine that a patient is experiencing intolerable suffering and that there is no possibility of improvement.
In addition to this, it stipulates that a patient must give thorough consideration to the choice to end their life, choose to do so of their own free will, and that there is no alternative “realistic option.”
In the event that a couple decides to have euthanasia, these requirements need to be satisfied for both patients, and they need to be evaluated by two separate medical professionals. Because of this, it is relatively uncommon.
