Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt and his wife passed away as a result of an euthanasia procedure. This was reported by the 
with reference to the human rights organisation The Rights Forum, which was headed by the late Agt.
“Our founder and honorary chairman, Dries van Agt, died in his hometown of Nijmegen. He died holding hands with his beloved wife, Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg, his support and pillar of strength for over seventy years, and whom he always called ‘my girlfriend’. The funeral was private. Van Agt and his wife were 93 years old,”
– the human rights organisation said.
Film director Gerard Jonkman told NOS that Dries van Agt and his wife were very ill, but “could not live without each other”. Van Agt never fully recovered from a brain haemorrhage in 2019.
Van Agt was particularly active in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, writing books on the subject. In 2016, he called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal”. Van Agt has defended Hamas and individual terrorists on several occasions. Because of these statements, Van Agt has been condemned several times by Jewish and other organisations as an anti-Semite.
What is euthanasia?
Euthanasia is one of the ways to end the life of a terminally ill person, if he or she expresses such a wish. In general, there are three forms of euthanasia that allow a person to choose to end their life. These are euthanasia, orthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Usually, the main condition for their use is an incurable illness that causes significant suffering.
Euthanasia occurs when a physician ends a patient’s life on his or her own accord, as expressed by a legal guardian, authorised person, parent or court order. This method is used, for example, in cases where a person is in an irreversible coma or is being kept alive with the help of special machines. It can also be used to detect severe congenital anomalies, such as the absence of a brain in newborns.
Physician-assisted suicide is the most common method. In this case, a medical professional provides the patient with a lethal drug or writes a prescription for it. It is important to note that the doctor does not determine a person’s fate, but only provides an opportunity to end their life independently.
Euthanasia involves a doctor directly administering a lethal injection.
Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Since 2002, the Netherlands has allowed euthanasia for those who experience “unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement”. In 2022, 8501 euthanasia was performed in the country.
Although spousal euthanasia is still rare, it was first noticed in a review of all cases in 2020, when 26 people were euthanised at the same time as their partners. These figures rose to 32 the following year and 58 in 2022.
Elke Swart, a spokeswoman for the Expertisecentrum Euthanasie, which grantseuthanasia requests to about 1,000 people a year in the Netherlands, told The Guardian that any couple’s requests for aid in dying were checked for compliance with strict requirements individually, not together.
“There is a growing interest in this, but it is still rare. It’s pure chance that two people are suffering unbearably at the same time with no prospect of relief… and both want euthanasia,”
– she said.
Since 2002, the Netherlands has allowed euthanasia and assisted suicide in six cases, including unbearable suffering, no chance of relief, and an ongoing independent wish to die.
The wish has to be confirmed by a second specialist, most of the cases are carried out by a family doctor at home.