Brussels, Belgium — Twin brothers who were born deaf have been put to death in a hospital in Belgium after the two realized that they were going blind and did not want to face the reality of never seeing each other again.
The 45-year-old men, whose identities have not been revealed, were stated to have shared a cup of coffee together before walking into their hospital room to die.
“They had a cup of coffee in the hall. It went well and a rich conversation,” Dr. David Dufour of University Hospital in Brussels told reporters. “Then the separation from their parents and brother was very serene…”
Dufour ended the men’s lives by lethal injection.
“At the last there was a little wave of their hands and then they were gone,” he said.
Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, as doctors are allowed to terminate the lives of their adult patients if they are mentally sound and affirm that they wish to die. Over 1,000 people were put to death via assisted suicide in the country in 2011 — the most of whom were cancer patients.
Socialist Party leader Thierry Giet says that he would like to expand the country’s euthanasia laws to include those under the age of 18.
“The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations and extremely harrowing cases we must find a response to,” he stated.
In America, three states have legalized some form of euthanasia — Montana, Oregon and Washington. The latest Gallop poll shows a sharp societal divide over the matter, with 48% asserting that assisted suicide is “morally wrong” and 45% claiming that it is “morally acceptable.”