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.
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THEY THINK THERE’S NO OTHER SOLUTION
‘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 said before her planned death: ‘There is no other solution.’
HOW THEIR HEALTH FALTERED
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 became so debilitating that she struggled to form sentences.
‘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.
