An elderly couple took their own lives at home after writing DNR - Do Not Revive - on their foreheads and hands, an inquest heard.
Peter Norris was found dead on a bed in one bedroom at the large detached property in Modbury, Devon, one day last April, and his wife Marguerite Norris was found dead lying on a bed in another bedroom.
An inquest at Plymouth Coroner's Court heard that police and ambulance crews went to the property after a welfare concern was raised by neighbours who had not seen the couple for a week.
The 999 crews found Chelsea born Peter, 75, and retired teacher Marguerite, 74, on their beds and confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances.
The inquest heard the couple were both suffering from chronic pain for heart and kidney disease and Peter also suffered with neuropathic pain following two strokes.
The senior Plymouth coroner Ian Arrow said empty blister packets of prescribed medication were found by their bodies and both had died from drug toxicity after taking lethal doses of the painkillers Amitriptyline and Codeine.
Police investigator Keeley Topham told the inquest that the letters DNR, for Do Not Revive, were written in their foreheads and hands.
She said there was evidence that 'both had decided to die together'.
They had left instructions about the automated heating and lighting, keeping the curtains drawn to stop the light fading furniture, and had written a letter to their solicitors saying it was 'their lives, their choice', said the officer.
The coroner recorded suicidce conclusions on the couple and said they died from drug toxicity.
He said they wrote they did not want to be revived and told their tearful relatives that 'sadly it was their intention to end their lives'.
