Double Euthanasia: 91-Year-Old Couple Dies Together

A rare double euthanasia case resulted in a 91-year-old Dutch couple dying together in each other's arms in June.

Nic and Trees Elderhorst died among family and friends at their home in Didan, the Netherlands, on June 4, giving each other one last kiss, The Independent reported. Nic Elderhorst had suffered a stroke limiting his mobility while his wife was diagnosed with dementia and could no longer care for him.

Dutch law strictly limits euthanasia under a doctor's care, setting out strident circumstances in which a patient must prove "hopeless and unbearable suffering," according to The Washington Post.

"Dying together was their deepest wish," the Elderhorsts' daughters told the local newspaper De Gelderlander, according to an English translation.

According to ProCon.org, only Belgium, Luxemburg, and The Netherlands allow both euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. Euthanasia is when in a doctor administers a lethal dose of medication to a patient.

Physician-assisted suicide is when a doctor prescribes lethal drugs that a patient may take to end his or her life, the Post noted.

"We are pleased that we have in the Netherlands this humane and carefully executed legislation that allows the honorable wishes of these two people whose fate was painful and hopeless," Dick Bosscher, of the Dutch Association for a Voluntary End of Life, told The Washington Post in a statement.

There is an intense debate over physician-assisted suicides in the United States. It is legal in California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia, according to CNN. A court ruling has made it legal in Montana as well.

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