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.

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Andre Verhoeven 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 illness, he became paralysed from the neck down and was forced to move into a care home

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.

Andre, pictured with his grandson Niek, decided he could take no more, announcing to his family he was going to kill himself with the help of the local doctor

As many as one in 33 people now use euthanasia to end their lives. Pictured, Andre's family in Holland

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.

You might be entitled to think that what people do in Holland is their business and nothing to do with us in Britain. But you could not be more wrong.

If campaigners have their way, the law will be changed here, too, to allow those who wish to end their life to do so at a time of their choosing. For opponents of euthanasia, this raises grave moral questions, as well as concerns that unscrupulous relatives might take advantage of elderly family members — whose estates they might covet — by encouraging them to end their lives.

One of the most vociferous and courageous voices in the campaign to legalise assisted dying was Debbie Purdy, who passed away last week at the age of 51 after refusing food for a year. She had said her hunger strike was painful and difficult, but that her life with progressive multiple sclerosis was ‘unacceptable’.

News of her death came as 80 prominent public figures in the UK called for the legalising of euthanasia here, warning that already one Briton travels abroad every fortnight to euthanasia clinics even as the issue continues to be passionately debated.

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. Pictured from left, Bregje, Dora and Ilse

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury (who last summer explained in a Daily Mail article why he was ending his long-standing opposition to assisted dying), author Ian McEwan and a number of eminent doctors have signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying that any refusal to debate the issue in Parliament would be ‘heartless’.

The signatories to the letter also include author Julian Barnes, philosopher A.C. Grayling, and showbusiness stars such as Hugh Grant, Eric Idle, Sir Patrick Stewart and Jo Brand. They say: ‘If there is not enough time for the Bill to complete its stages before the General Election then it is imperative that Parliament continues this important debate afterwards.’

The call for action from all political parties follows the tabling of a Bill by Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor. If it passed into law, it would permit doctors to prescribe fatal drugs to patients with no more than six months to live, and a ‘clear and settled’ intention to end their lives.

Andre Verhoeven, pictured at his first Communion, chose to end his life in January last year

Under current law, helping someone to take their own life can carry a jail sentence of up to 14 years.

Though David Cameron has previously said he would oppose the legalising of assisted dying, if the issue is debated in Parliament, MPs will be given a free vote. But if it ever comes to that, they would do well to heed the warning of the senior Dutch ethicist who supported euthanasia and oversaw the law when it was introduced in Holland, but who has now advised the UK not to blindly follow suit.

Professor Theo Boer says that it would lead to widespread killing of the sick. ‘Don’t do it, Britain,’ he urged last year. ‘Once the genie is out of the bottle, it is not likely ever to go back in again.’

So what lessons should we draw from the Dutch?

Holland was the first country in the world to allow euthanasia after a law was pushed through by the radical and liberal health minister Dr Els Borst, against strong opposition from Holland’s Catholic and Calvinist churches.

Most Dutch people backed the new right-to-die law, which is subtly different from the one proposed in Britain.

While in the UK, terminally ill people would be prescribed a lethal dose by a doctor but administer it themselves, in Holland, once permission is gained — normally in a matter of days, from the state-sanctioned ethics committee — the deed is usually done by a doctor.

The Dutch ignored warnings that killings would become commonplace, yet now Dr Boer insists assisted suicide has ‘turned a last resort into a normal procedure’.

The legalisation of euthanasia has led to ‘Life End clinics’ being set up where Dutch people, if faced with a reluctant local doctor, are helped to commit suicide. Indeed, mobile teams of euthanasia doctors operate across the country who will kill people if their own GP refuses on ethical grounds.

Gaby Olthuis suffered ‘24-hour noise’ in her head, ‘like a train screeching or someone scratching their nails on a chalk board’. To end her suffering, she was given a lethal potion to drink by one of the clinic’s doctors at her home

The pressure to push the legislative boundaries is never-ending in the Netherlands. In 2010, a citizens’ initiative called Out Of Free Will demanded that all Dutch people over 70 who feel tired of life should have the right to professional medical help in ending it all. Many thousands of people supported this idea.

But the euthanasia business does not just concern the elderly. It is now acceptable for a doctor to end the life of a baby, with the parents’ consent, if it is in pain or facing a life of hopeless suffering.

The Royal Dutch Medical Association estimates that 650 newborns are killed every year because they fall into this category.

Shockingly, Ms Olthius left behind two teenagers, a boy of 13 and girl of 15

Dr Eduard Verhagen, an eminent Dutch paediatric medical expert who supports this practice, says a child can even be killed on the grounds that it is distressing for a parent to watch it in pain.

He has said: ‘These children are grey and cold, they get blue lips and suddenly, every few minutes, take extremely deep breaths. That is very nasty to see, and it can go on for hours, sometimes days.

‘The experience is extremely stressful for parents. The sight of their child shuddering in its last moments could scar them for ever.’

Even physically healthy people suffering from depression have been killed by doctors under Holland’s right-to-die laws.

And a 54-year-old woman with personality and eating disorders is reported to have received lethal injections at a ‘Life End’ clinic in Amsterdam. Indeed, according to Holland’s health minister, several right-to-die deaths have involved psychiatric patients.

The number of mentally ill patients killed through euthanasia has trebled in the space of a year, official figures reveal. In 2013, a total of 42 people with ‘severe psychiatric problems’ were killed by lethal injection in Holland compared with 14 in 2012 and 13 in 2011.

It is not clear whether they or their families took the decision to end their lives, but the law allows for unbearable suffering — including mental anguish — to be grounds for euthanasia. As in all cases, the final decision rests with the ethics committee.

Shockingly, in Holland I also spoke to the family of a 47-year-old woman with tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears, who ended her life last March with the help of an ‘Life End’ clinic.

Gaby Olthuis, a divorcee, was a brilliant clarinet player, but said she suffered ‘24-hour noise’ in her head, ‘like a train screeching or someone scratching their nails on a chalk board’. She explained: ‘I look healthy from the outside, but inside I am being tortured.’

To end her suffering, she was given a lethal potion to drink by one of the clinic’s doctors at her home. Shockingly, she left behind two teenagers, a boy of 13 and girl of 15.

One of the most vociferous and courageous voices in the campaign to legalise assisted dying was multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy, pictured, who passed away last week at 51 after refusing food for a year

Her mother Joan explained: ‘Gaby told the children that she was planning to die, she was in pain and there was no cure for her.

‘The euthanasia was agreed by doctors and she said her goodbyes and had time to organise her memorial service. She died a month later. Of course the children miss her badly, but they understand her decision.’

It is chilling enough that any mother of young children, particularly if she is not terminally ill, could choose to die in this way. But surely it makes a mockery of the sanctity of human life that her euthanasia has been accepted without a public outcry in Holland?

Of course, the ethical knots that make euthanasia the subject of such fierce debate were not the overriding concern of Andre Verhoeven, the teacher from Uden, as he lay paralysed. He was simply relieved his suffering would soon be over.

Another of his daughters, Ilse, 35, told me he said to his family he wanted to end his life when the hospital was unable to help him any more.

Seven weeks after he became paralysed, Andre made a video (because he was physically unable to sign the necessary paperwork legally authorising his suicide) formally requesting euthanasia.

It was passed to doctors and the ethics committee assessing right-to-die requests, and approved. So Andre went home to die.

Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, author Ian McEwan and a number of eminent doctors have signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph saying that any refusal to debate the issue Would be ‘heartless’

When the day arrived, his GP visited in the early morning to put a catheter in his arm which would later carry the lethal dose into his body.

When the doctor — who by coincidence had been at the local school with Andre’s oldest daughter — returned at midday, he was with Andre for fewer than five minutes.

Four hours later, his body, which he had donated to medical research, was collected to be taken to the Uden teaching hospital.

A packed memorial service was held in the same church where he was married, although priests asked the family not to mention euthanasia because of the Catholic Church’s opposition to the right-to-die law.

Today, Andre’s family are convinced his end was a humane act.