Till death do us part: Married Dutch couple, 70 and 71, who spent their lives together after meeting in pre-school are killed by lethal injection in double-euthanasia

A devoted couple who spent their lives together after meeting as small children have died side by side in what is just the latest case of double euthanasia in the Netherlands.

Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen, aged 70 and 71, were married for almost five decades before they ended their lives by lethal injection at the same time in early June.

In the moments before their deaths, the pair were surrounded by friends and family, including their son, who had found his parents’ decision to end their lives hard to take.

‘You don’t want to let your parents die,’ Jan said of his reaction. ‘So there have been tears – our son said, “Better times will come, better weather”- but not for me.’ Els agreed, saying before her death: ‘There is no other solution.’

Jan, who worked as a cargo boat operator, had been suffering from severe back pain for over 20 years, while his wife was diagnosed with dementia in 2022 which has since worsened.

‘I’ve lived my life, I don’t want pain anymore,’ Jan told the BBC. ‘The life we’ve lived, we’re getting old [for it]. We think it has to be stopped.’ 

The couple enjoyed a lifelong partnership, first meeting in kindergarten. Jan went on to play hockey for the Netherlands’ national youth team before training as a sports coach, while Els became a primary school teacher.

They shared a passion for the sea, and spent much of their lives living on boats.

This shared interest was turned into a career, with the pair buying a cargo boat and setting up a goods transportation company.

They had a son, who went to boarding school in the week while they lived on the water, and who they would take on sailing holidays.

After more than a decade of heavy lifting and hands-on work, Jans’ back pain became serious, and the couple moved back on land into a caravan.

Surgery in 2003 did little to alleviate his pain and he was forced to stop working. 

While Els was still working as a teacher, Jans’ physical limitations and the lower quality of life they resulted in encouraged the couple to start thinking about assisted dying, and they joined NVVE – Netherlands’ ‘right to die’ organisation.

Els retired in 2018, and was beginning to show early signs of dementia, a disease her father had suffered with and died from.

She was officially diagnosed in November 2022, and it progressively got worse to the point where she struggled to construct sentences.

The couple’s GP – like many doctors in the Netherlands – was uncomfortable with accepting their case for euthanasia due to Els’ dementia, which can create uncertainty around a patient’s capacity to give consent.

The couple turned to the Centre of Expertise on Euthanasia, which gives advice on assisted dying and has a mobile clinic which carries out procedures in patients’ homes.

The couple turned to the Centre of Expertise on Euthanasia, which gives advice on assisted dying and has a mobile clinic which carries out procedures in patients’ homes

Ahead of their appointment, Els and Jan spent the day with their son and grandchildren.

They played games, chatted and Els went for a beach walk with her son.

‘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.

On the day they were due to die, Els and Jan had two final hours together with their loved ones.

They used the time to share their memories and listened to music – Idlewild by Travis for Els, the Beatles’ Now and Then for Jan.

After that, their son said, the doctors came in and ‘everything happened quickly’, with the medics following their procedures and then it happening in ‘just a matter of minutes’.

The couple were administered lethal injections simultaneously by two doctors and died together on June 3. 

In 2023, 9,068 people died by euthanasia in the Netherlands – up 348 on 2022. 

Of the 8,720 people to die by euthanasia in the Netherlands in 2022, 29 were couples. In 2021, 16 couples died this way. In 2018, there were nine.

Elke Swart, spokesperson for the Expertisecentrum Euthanasie, told the Guardian that any request for joint euthanasia from a couple is still tested against strict individual requirements, rather than together. 

In case similar to Jan and Els’, which was reported earlier this year, a couple who had been together for 50 years decided they wanted to die at the same time.

Monique Wessels, 74, suffered from dementia, while her partner Loes Wasmoeth, 88, from a muscular disease. 

The spotlight was shone on ‘duo euthanasia’ in February when it emerged that former prime minister Dries Van Agt had died in this way alongside his wife of 70 years Eugenie.

Former Dutch Prime Minister, Dries van Agt (left), has died by euthanasia, ‘hand in hand’ with his beloved wife Eugenie (right). They were both 93 

Both had been in fragile health for some time after van Agt suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2019, and felt it was better to pass together given their advanced age and declining physical state.

‘The way the Van Agts died is a great example of dying with dignity while staying in control,’ said the pro-euthanasia group NVVE at the time.

The Netherlands and Belgium were the first European countries to legalise euthanasia – voluntary death assisted by a doctor – in 2002.

The procedure is strictly regulated in the Netherlands. A doctor and an independent expert have to judge that a patient is enduring unbearable suffering with no hope of improvement.

It also requires that a decision to die is carefully considered, of a patient’s own free will, and that there is no other ‘realistic option.’

In the case of a couple choosing euthanasia, these conditions have to be met for both patients, assessed by two different doctors. It is therefore extremely rare.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details