Til death do them part: Husband, 70, and wife, 71, decide to undergo euthanasia together
In sickness and in health, til death do them part. A husband, 70, and wife, 71, decided to die together through euthanasia.
PEOPLE Magazine reported that Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen from the Netherlands met in kindergarten and had a lifelong partnership, being married for nearly five decades.
Jan worked as a sports coach while Els worked as a primary school teacher.
He, however, struggled with back pain for years and saw no improvements even after his surgery in 2003. The chronic pain prevented him from working. This prompted him to consider euthanasia, telling his family he didn't want to live with physical limitations.
In November 2022, meanwhile, Els was diagnosed with dementia. While her body is "very good," she told BBC News that her mind was "terrible."
"There is no other solution," she said at the time.
Before her condition got worse, Els decided to join Jan's plan and ended their lives together through duo-euthanasia.
“If you take a lot of medicine, you live like a zombie,” Jan is quoted as saying. “So, with the pain I have, and Els’ illness, I think we have to stop this," pertaining to living.
"I’ve lived my life, I don’t want pain anymore,” he added. “The life we’ve lived, we’re getting old. We think it has to be stopped.”
Jan and Els died together at a local hospice on June 3.
Euthanasia became legal in the Netherlands after the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act was passed in April 2001. It took effect the following year.
The Netherlands is also the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.
According to its official website, the procedure is performed by a physician who administers "a fatal dose of a suitable drug to the patient on his or her express request."
Euthanasia had to meet the law's criteria, and only then that the physician would be immune from criminal prosecution.
Doctors also have a duty to report the euthanasia to a regional review committee comprising a medical doctor, an ethicist, and a legal expert.
"Requests for euthanasia often come from patients experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement," the website says. "Their request must be made earnestly and with full conviction."
"They see euthanasia as the only escape from the situation. However, patients have no absolute right to euthanasia and doctors have no absolute duty to perform it," it adds.