New Delhi: Euthanasia is legal in only a handful of countries.
The Netherlands, one of the first countries to introduce laws to allow death by assisted suicide, saw such a high-profile case recently.
Veteran politician and former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt, and his wife Eugenie chose to end their lives through duo euthanasia.
The couple, both aged 93, breathed their last holding hands in their hometown Nijmegen.
Dries van Agt’s tenure as Prime Minister of the Netherlands lasted from 1977 to 1982, during which he also became the inaugural leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal party. His political journey was marked by a commitment to his values, even after his time in office, as evidenced by his founding of The Rights Forum in 2009, an organisation dedicated to advocating for Palestinian rights.
“In consultation with the immediate family, we announce that our founder and honorary chairman Dries van Agt passed away on Monday, February 5, in his hometown of Nijmegen. He died together and hand in hand with his beloved wife Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg, the support and support with whom he was together for more than 70 years, and whom he always continued to refer to as ‘my girl’. The funeral took place privately. Van Agt and his wife were both 93 years old,” read the statement, translated from Dutch.
Duo euthanasia is still relatively uncommon but has seen a gradual increase in The Netherlands, where 58 cases have been reported in 2022.
Elke Swart, spokesperson for Expertisecentrum Euthanasie, said that each request for assisted death is rigorously evaluated on a case to case basis to ensure it meets the stringent criteria set forth by Dutch law, The Guardian reported.
“Interest in this is growing, but it is still rare. It is pure chance that two people are suffering unbearably with no prospect of relief at the same time and that they both wish for euthanasia,” Swart said.
