Former Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt and his wife Eugenie die in double euthanasia

Former Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt and his wife Eugenie have died hand-in-hand in double euthanasia. Dries van Agt was prime minister between 1977 and 1982, he and his wife Eugeinie were both 93. The Rights Forum, which was founded in 2009 by Dries van Agt announced the news on their Instagram and said: “We announce with sadness that the founder of The Rights Forum and former minister-president Dries Van agt passed away on Monday 5 February in his hometown of Nijmegen. He died together hand- in-hand with his beloved wife Eygenie van Agt-Krekelberg, the support and allowances with whom he was together for more than seventy years and whom he always continued to refer as ‘my girl.’ The funeral took place in a private circle. Dries van Agt and his wife were both 93 years old.”

Since 2002, Euthansia and assisted suicide has been legal in the Netherlands under specific conditions. The Telegraph reported that “Double euthanasia is rare but has been on the rise there with 26 in 2020 and 58 in 2022 out of a total of 9,000 euthanasia cases.

Jozef van der Heijden, a former MP from van Agt’s party, and his wife Gonnie died in  double euthanasia in 2016.”

On the Government of the Netherland's website it says that "Euthanasia and asisted suicide are legal only if the criteria laid down in the Dutch Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act are fully observed. Only then is the physician concerned immune from criminal prosecution. Requests for euthanasia often come from patients experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement. Their request must be made earnestly and with full conviction. They see euthanasia as the only escape frm the situation. However, patients hve no absolute right to eutanasia and doctors no absolute duty to perfrom it."

Dries suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2019 and never fully recovered. Dries and his wife had been together for more than 70 years and had three children together. One of their grandchildren, Eva van Agt is a professional cyclist. She told Cycling News that he was a big cycling fan and said: “He really followed cycling and I think he also brought it to the public of the Netherlands. A lot more people started cycling because he encouraged people to.”