Deaf twins euthanized

Distraught about going blind, 45-year-old deaf twin brothers from Belgium chose to be euthanized because they couldn't bear not to see one another, according to reports from Flanders.

Marc and Eddy Verbessem of Putte died Dec. 14 by lethal injection at Brussels University Hospital. Voluntary euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since September 2002.

The doctor who presided over the euthanasia described the twins as being "very happy."

"It was a relief to see the end of their suffering," David Dufour told Germany's RTL TV network. "They had a cup of coffee in the hall, it went well, and a rich conversation. The separation from their parents and brother was very serene and beautiful. At the last, there was a little wave of their hands, and then they were gone."

The twins, who were born deaf, had spent their entire lives together. Both were cobblers, and they never married or had children.

"They lived together, did their own cooking and cleaning. You could eat off the floor. Blindness would have made them completely dependent," their older brother, Dirk, told the LondonTelegraph. "They did not want to be in an institution.

"Their great fear was that they would no longer be able to see each other," he said. "That was for my brothers unbearable."

He said he and their parents tried to talk them out of it, but they were persuaded to let them die as they wanted.

The brothers' hospital refused their desire to end their lives, because doctors did not accept that they were suffering unbearable pain, one of the major requirements, the Telegraph says.