D66’er Machteld Versnel (1940-2019) did not want to end up with dementia in a nursing home, but did not receive euthanasia

Machteld Versnel (1940-2019) passed away on Monday night. The former D66 Member of Parliament spent the last years of her life in a nursing home because of dementia. And she never wanted that. That is why she had had a euthanasia statement drawn up years earlier.

‘A Bilthoven girl with a heart for Utrecht has passed away’, says Machteld Versnel’s mourning card. She passed away last Monday night at the age of 78. Versnel came in 1970 in the Utrecht city council for D66. In 1989 she joined the Lower House.

Hard laughter

Machteld Versnel had had a euthanasia statement drawn up together with her husband Hans. “The GP asked us why we wanted a euthanasia certificate. Then Machteld and I said almost in unison: ‘The nursing home'”, says Hans. Because of her illness, that became her fate. Machteld became incapacitated and did not seem to suffer hopelessly and unbearably, so that the statement turned out to be worthless.

Spoke two years ago One today expanded with her husband Hans and son Diederik. They said that it was a harsh plague that Machteld dementia had ended up in a nursing home. “Both Machteld and I have experienced what it means when you have dementia. That was a shock to us,” says Hans.

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