Did the son of Dutch couple Jan and Els think their duo euthanasia came too soon?

Bas, the only son of Jan and Els, told the BBC's Linda Pressly nearly two and a half years later that his parents could probably have waited another year. His father had lived with chronic pain for 10 to 15 years, and his mother had Alzheimer's. Bas said waiting longer risked his mother losing the capacity to decide, which could have left her ineligible for euthanasia in the Netherlands.

Jan was 70 and Els was 71 when they died together by lethal injection.
Nearly 10,500 people died by euthanasia in the Netherlands last year.
A geriatrician and ethicist at Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam said euthanasia should remain the ultimate solution, not an early request.

▸In their words

“I think they could have stretched it for another year, for sure.” Bas · at 22:06 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-11-03). Read the whole episode summary →

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