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IDENTICAL twins were killed by Belgian doctors last month in an unusual mercy killing that put a spotlight on the nation's euthanasia laws.
Marc and Eddy Verbessem, 45, were both born deaf and sought to end their lives after learning they would also imminently go blind.

Having spent their entire lives together, sharing an apartment and working as cobblers, the brothers told doctors they could not bear the thought of not being able to see each other, according to London’s Daily Telegraph.

Euthanasia is legal in Belgium, requiring those who seek it to convince a doctor and judges that they are suffering unbearable pain. The twins’ case was unusual because they were not in physical pain or terminally ill.

The pair were euthanised by lethal injection by doctors at Brussels University Hospital on December 14. “They were very happy. It was a relief to see the end of their suffering,” supervising doctor David Dufour told RTL television news

“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 men, from the village of Putte outside Brussels, had first sought help from - and been refused by - their local hospital.

"There is a law but that is clearly open to various interpretations. If any blind or deaf are allowed to euthanise, we are far from home. I do not think this was what the legislation meant by 'unbearable suffering'," the Telegraph reports doctors at the first hospital saying.

The twins also had to overcome resistance from their ageing parents, who did not initially support their desire to be euthanised, according to neighbours in Putte, but were defended by older brother Dirk Verbessem.

"Many will wonder why my brothers have opted for euthanasia because there are plenty of deaf and blind that have a 'normal' life," he said. "But my brothers trudged from one disease to another. They were really worn out."

Mr Verbessem explained his brothers had suffered spinal and heart disease, as well as losing their vision due to glaucoma.

"The great fear that they would no longer be able to see, or hear, each other and the family was for my brothers unbearable," he said.

Belgium’s ruling Socialists have since tabled a new amendment to the laws that would allow euthanasia of children and Alzheimer’s sufferers

"The idea is to update the law to take better account of dramatic situations and extremely harrowing cases we must find a response to," said Thierry Giet, the Socialist leader.

Euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since 2002 but only people over the age of 18.

Some 1133 cases of euthanasia - mostly for terminal cancer - were recorded there in 2011, according to the last official figures


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-live-for.html