The country where death is now just a lifestyle choice: A mum with ringing ears. Babies whose parents don't want them to suffer. They've all been allowed to die by assisted suicide in Holland

No one would have predicted that such a devoted husband and family man would one day choose to die by a lethal injection administered by his own GP.

Andre Verhoeven married in his local Catholic church, lived in an unpretentious town south of Amsterdam, and worked as a respected teacher at the nearby secondary school.

He had planned to retire at 65 to travel the world with his wife, Dora.

Instead, he was diagnosed with acute leukaemia, a cancer of the blood, for which he was told there was no cure. Because of complications from the cruel illness, he became paralysed from the neck down.

At the age of 64, Andre had to go into a care home. Unable even to lift a cup of water to his lips, he had to summon nurses when he needed help by nudging a bell strapped round his neck. His doctors told him that he would remain that way for the rest of his days.

Two months later, Andre decided he could take no more, announcing to his family he was going to kill himself with the help of the local doctor.

And so it was that on a January day in 2013, a GP gave him two injections — one to sedate him and the other to end his life.

Three seconds after the first, Andre slipped into a coma. Two minutes after the second, he took his final breath. There, surrounded by his supportive family (including his toddler granddaughter) and close friends, Andre got his final wish.

‘His end was so peaceful,’ recalls his daughter Bregje, 37, a writer. ‘Once my father had decided on euthanasia, he was relieved. He was looking forward to the date he would die. In the last few days he was able to say goodbye to his family, his friends, to talk about old times.’

Andre was not a campaigner or activist for mercy killings. But he knew that, in his home country, he could seize the option which the law gave him and choose to die if he wished.

Talking to his family it is clear euthanasia is now an accepted part of life — or death — in Holland. 

Everyone in the Netherlands, where a right-to-die law was passed in 2002, seems to know of someone who has lost a loved one through a mercy killing.

As many as one in 33 people now use euthanasia to end their lives, and the number of cases rose from 1,923 in 2006 to nearly 5,000 in 2013. It is thought that in 2014 around 6,000 people could have chosen to die by this means.