A 70- and 71-year-old Dutch couple who were childhood sweethearts and had been married for almost 50 years died by joint assisted suicide in early June. The practice is legal in the Netherlands if one requests it.

Jan Faber and Els van Leeningen opted to be killed by lethal injection in double-euthanasia, BBC News reports. Els had been struggling with dementia that was worsening since her diagnosis in November 2022. She said of her decision that "There is no other solution." Jan suffered from severe back pain after working as a cargo boat operator for over 20 years.

“If you take a lot of medicine, you live like a zombie. So, with the pain I have, and Els’ illness, I think we have to stop this," Jan said during his interview with the outlet. “This is very good,” Els said, pointing to her body. “But this is terrible,” she said, pointing to her head. While the couple was surrounded by family and friends in the hours leading up to their deaths, their son, who asked to remain anonymous, was less enthused by his parents' decision.

“You don’t want to let your parents die," said Jan regarding his son's resistance. "So there have been tears - our son said, ‘Better times will come, better weather’ - but not for me.”

The couple's general practitioner refused to administer the lethal injection, so they sought out a mobile euthanasia clinic, the Centre of Expertise on Euthanasia, which has supervised 15% of assisted suicides last year in the country. Doctors had determined that while Els was mentally competent to request the euthanasia at the time of her death, she may not have been for much longer.

“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," their son told BBC after his parents had been euthanized. "It was a very strange day."
 

“We had two hours together, before the doctors came. We spoke about our memories… And we listened to music," he continued. "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."