Former Dutch PM Ends Life Along With Wife Through Legal Euthanasia

Former Dutch Prime Minister Dries van Agt and his wife Eugenie died by legal euthanasia “hand in hand”. Both were 93.

According to reports, the couple preferred voluntary death earlier this month in his hometown Nijmegen, The Rights Forum, a human rights organisation Agt founded, announced. As per the press note of the organization, both Agt and his wife were suffering from deteriorating health before they chose to die.

Agt was the PM of the Netherlands between 1977 and 1982.

“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,” the press note read.

“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 seventy years, and whom he always continued to refer to as ‘my girl’,” the press note added.

As per the press release, Agt suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2019 and never fully recovered. He and his wife were “very ill”, but “couldn’t live without each other.” So they chose euthanasia, reported The Guardian.

They opted for “duo euthanasia”, or two people receiving a fatal injection simultaneously.

Euthanasia is legal in the Netherlands since 2002 for six conditions, including unbearable suffering, no prospect of relief and a long-held, independent wish for death.