Elderly British Couple Use Double Suicide Pod in Switzerland

You'll probably see this as either a very sad story or a very happy one.

An elderly British couple are traveling to Switzerland to use a double suicide pod. The wife has dementia and the couple are running out of money for health care for themselves. They want to die together in dignity.

I have mixed thoughts on this. It's their life so they should be able to do what they want. They are going out on their own terms and with dignity before the mess sets in, and they want to go together. I understand all that. BUT ... this could be a slippery slope where people go and kill themselves because they can't afford medical treatment that elderly people should be able to get. And there is something very wrong about that. That shouldn't be what people are faced with having to do. I don't know the answer to fix that.


Elderly British Couple Use Double Suicide Pod in Switzerland

A former RAF engineer and his wife are signing up to become the first British couple to use a double suicide pod.

Peter and Christine Scott, who have been married for 46 years, made the decision after former nurse Christine, 80, was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia several weeks ago.

The couple want to travel to Switzerland to die in each other's arms in the death capsule – known as the Sarco – to mark the end of their long and happy marriage.

Following an emotional family summit during which the couple shared their fears of suffering years of infirmity within a failing NHS, and losing their home and life savings to pay crippling care costs, their son and daughter have reluctantly said they'll respect their choice.

Peter, 86, and Christine, who have six grandchildren, are now in the process of registering with The Last Resort, a Swiss-based organisation that offers assisted dying in the Sarco, unveiled in July.

a reply to: FlyersFan

That's sad, the motivation for ending ones life should never be financial, but it more often is, than not.

It's not that they're out of money but they don't want to loose their savings and home, they do it primarily for the materialistic gains their kids will profit from...

If values are all measured against money, money will define all values... That's the world we live in.

originally posted by: Terpene
If values are all measured against money, money will define all values... That's the world we live in.

It's a little more complicated than that. Modern medicine keeps us alive, being cared for keeps us alive - but often that's a relative alive-ness.

My step-mother's mother lived to 106 but the lights had gone out decades before. She was alive, yes, in body but not in mind and that survival was based upon a total dependency to care for the most basic of needs.

Given the opportunity to make that choice, before dementia sets in and I lose all power, I wouldn't consider that level of quality of life worth the financial cost and would far prefer that it be put to more productive use. Nor I would want to burden our loved ones in that way emotionally.

My Dad and step-Mum have put money, and the necessary documentation in place, for that eventuality because they have seen first hand how life can be so needlessly dragged out and don't want their children to go through that. The money is a necessity whatever choice you make.

a reply to: FlyersFan

I'm just glad Switzerland is PROGRESSIVE enough to promote death pods. Do they offer coupons for monthly deals, did these folks get a two for one offer? Way to go Switzerland!

a reply to: network dude

How's that for trash talk, i knew i wouldnt have to wait long...

You get a "every second suicide is free," stamp card but strangely no one ever claimed it....

Sad that people end up losing everything to pay for health care. In the US, if you get put in assisted living paid for by the government. They will force you to sell your home to pay for care, before government will pay. If you transferred home to a family member before 5 years ago, they will go after it.

Look what the government did during Covid-19, they put people with Covid-19 in nursing homes. It's like they wanted to spread it to elderly in hopes it would kill them.

If they were running out of money for healthcare in Britain, why did they spend extra money to travel to Europe? 😊

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: FlyersFan

I'm just glad Switzerland is PROGRESSIVE enough to promote death pods. Do they offer coupons for monthly deals, did these folks get a two for one offer? Way to go Switzerland!

They may have signed an agreement to donate their cell phones? 😃

originally posted by: Terpene
a reply to: network dude

How's that for trash talk, i knew i wouldnt have to wait long...

You get a "every second suicide is free," stamp card but strangely no one ever claimed it....

as far as "trash talk", it's quite weak. As far as "truth that stings a bit", it's quite close to the mark.
kill em all, and let MOG sort em out, eh?

a reply to: BrucellaOrchitis

There certainly is the concern what a live in vegetative state is worth, and the drain it has on those around.

It's very common for elder people or terminally I'll to arrange measures that prevents Healthcare to extend their life beyond certain conditions.

In this case it didn't sound like those where the main concerns...

a reply to: FlyersFan

Health care is free in the UK for whatever that is worth in this day of age.

Each to their own all the same it's their lives after all.

But imagine giving away possible years of life down to fear?

That's not what life is supposed to be about imho, else its not much of a life constantly living in such.

all i got to say is

a reply to: andy06shake

Nursing/care homes, not necessarily. My 98 year old Mum is paying 7k a month.

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

I am surprised they have not made the poor lady sell her house yet.

If a person cannot afford their care requirements, local authorities (LA) are required by law to arrange and fund the care. It is usually assumed that a person has sufficient funds to pay for their own care if their combined capital is above £23,250.

To establish if somebody is liable to pay for their own care, the individual has to submit to a financial assessment. This is a detailed analysis of their personal wealth, including both their Income and Capital.

If an individual is deemed to be entitled to receive support to pay for their care (due to their capital being below £23,250) then the LA do not necessarily pay the full amount. Instead, they pay the difference between the weekly fee and the resident’s weekly income.

But I'm led to believe our beloved gooberment will foot the bill if the poor sods cannot.

Might have changed since 2013 all the same which was when my Gran was in a care home.

Its clown shoes they way we treat our elderly compared to European nations which is annoying beyond belief never mind shameful.

originally posted by: Terpene
In this case it didn't sound like those where the main concerns...

For some, I suppose, it's the ability to go together on their own terms and with the dignity, that assisted, rather than self-administered, suicide can provide.

I don't suppose they took the decision lightly or purely based upon pecuniary concerns.

a reply to: andy06shake

She's eating up her savings at a rate of knots but still has her house.

After a lot of hassle I got her a nursing care allowance but it's only a few hundred a week, not much at all.

a reply to: Oldcarpy2

Its shocking carpy2.

My gran had about £75,000 in her accounts when she began to go senile(2008).

And just enough to bury her when she passed, about £7000 back in 2015.

I mean what do we bother paying into the likes of national insurance for all our days if "they" can turn around and do that when you are senseless at the end???!!!

We took her out the care home in the end, or rather she got told she would not be readmitted after a bout of phenomena that landed her in the hospital.

Because we and the hospital complained about all sorts of unaccounted-for bruises and bedsores all over her body.

Fact is they get manhandled about all over the place and left to sit in their own pish watching endless daytime TV with the volume at 100%.

And the people looking after them are some of the lowest-paid workers in the land, the majority of such from my experience have problems understanding basic English.

Never mind the demands of pensioners with serious health concerns.

Not that there are not exceptions to the rule.

But my experience of our care homes.................

a reply to: FlyersFan

For me and my bride, it'll come down to quality of life versus quantity of life.

Ignoring the state of Britain and the life it offers for the elderly following the ruinous rule of the Tories which Labour seems to wish to follow with zeal, I might consider the same if I was set by dementia.

The mind is a terrible thing to lose. I don't like being the idea of being naught but an incapable shadow of my former self.

Existence alone is not life, and it seems to me that those in such a state have only a pale imitation of the life the once led.

As the family begged the doctor to 'save' its faily 95 y/o matriarch he just looked at them and said "There comes a point when we're no longer extending llfe but rather prolonging death".

I think someone in their 80's has earned the right to decide what their future will or won't be. Folks should be more concerned with the 100,000+ people who choose to die by drug abuse each year than seniors in failing health with a minimal number of years left choosing to end their own suffering.

'My body, my choice' eh?