Dutch Couple, Married For 50 Years, Dies Together By Euthanasia

On June 3, a couple from the Netherlands decided to receive euthanasia to die together.

Jan Faber, 70, and his wife, Els van Lenningen, 71, had been married for almost five decades. After Faber received surgery in 2003, he was left struggling with chronic back pain that rendered him unable to work. He often spoke about euthanasia, telling his family he had no desire to live with these physical limits.

In 2022, van Leeningen was diagnosed with dementia. “This is very good,” she told BBC, pointing to her body. “But this is terrible,” she said, pointing to her head. As her and her husband’s conditions worsened, the pair began discussing euthanasia and ultimately decided to end their lives together.

The procedure was legalized in the Netherlands after the Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act was passed in April 2001. This act named the Netherlands the first country in the world to make euthanasia legal so long as 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.”

Faber and van Leeningen decided while van Leeningen was still lucid.

“If you take a lot of medicine, you live like a zombie,” Faber said. “So, with the pain I have, and Els’ illness, I think we have to stop this.” van Leeningen reiterated this sentiment, saying, “There is no other solution.”

The couple’s son, who asked the BBC to keep his identity anonymous, said losing both of his parents made for a “strange day.”

“I remember we were having dinner in the evening, and I got tears in my eyes just watching us all having that final dinner together,” he said. “The final half hour was difficult. The doctors arrived and everything happened quickly – they follow their routine, and then it’s just a matter of minutes.”

Faber and van Leeningen passed together at a local hospice.