Elderly British Couple Use Double Suicide Pod in Switzerland

My 90 year old stepmom has just gone into assisted living in Atlanta. My dad (who passed in 2012 because of end stage Parkinson's disease, which btw is an awful way to die) did his best to provide a nest egg for her. We still had to sell her house.

And Oldcarpy2: In Atlanta, GA, it’s more than 7K. ☹️

Getting old sucks. But I’d much rather have my stepmom around for as long as possible…

originally posted by: Terpene
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.

We're approaching the point where death is perceived as unnatural and even evil. People shouldn't be allowed to die quietly on their own terms because there's no profit in letting people take control of the most expensive decision one can possibly make, more expensive than having kids and owning a home. In many cases the ethics are a political debate that pretends to serve the common good but is a transparent ploy to perpetuate the industry of prolonging excruciating mortal decay.

originally posted by: LollieK3
My 90 year old stepmom has just gone into assisted living in Atlanta. My dad (who passed in 2012 because of end stage Parkinson's disease, which btw is an awful way to die) did his best to provide a nest egg for her. We still had to sell her house.

And Oldcarpy2: In Atlanta, GA, it’s more than 7K. ☹️

Getting old sucks. But I’d much rather have my stepmom around for as long as possible…

"My body, my choice"

Ah yes.

Dying with dignity by suicide as a couple as opposed to a society that takes care of its elderly seems so much more beneficial for humanity.

F’ing pathetic world we live in.

Until we can’t.

originally posted by: SteamyAmerican
Ah yes.

Dying with dignity by suicide as a couple as opposed to a society that takes care of its elderly seems so much more beneficial for humanity.

F’ing pathetic world we live in.

Until we can’t.

Or in this case of this couple, don't want to.

Peter said: 'We have had long, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives but here we are in old age and it does not do nice things to you.

'The idea of watching the slow degradation of Chris's mental abilities in parallel to my own physical decline is horrific to me.

'Obviously I would care for her to the point I could not, but she has nursed enough people with dementia during her career to be adamant she wants to remain in control of herself and her life. Assisted dying gives her that opportunity and I would not want to go on living without her...'

The pity really is that they have to go all that way, get into that horrendous looking pod-thing, rather than be allowed to choose to die in their own home surrounded by their family because that would be a crime with all present implicated.

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

And besides that, isn’t Britain’s heakth cere system almost as socialist as Canada. Or hue about Cuba, as Michael Moore made certain we all know Cubas healthcare is much ch better than USA standards by far ( and they are communist )

a reply to: FlyersFan

That is sad beyond belief.

Too bad they don't instead go out in a blaze of glory in some crazy bender of a blow-out.

Or find some nice government funded assisted living or palliative care place in some beautiful countryside, somewhere. Such places exist.

a reply to: EyeoftheHurricane

Our NHS is kind on its arse after 14 years of Tory rape and pillaging.

But yes they would have been provided for to the best of its ability.

Just possibly not in the manner or the fashion they were accustomed.

Their choice i suppose, but one things is for sure, the use of the "Double Suicide Pod" won't have been free.

originally posted by: andy06shake
Health care is free in the UK for whatever that is worth in this day of age.

Where we live nursing homes and assisted living centers cost about $140,000 a year. Most people can't afford that. And those that can, can only afford it for a little while before they are wiped out. If it's an old married couple, like the ones in the story, all the money will pay for a nursing home and the other spouse will be penniless ... either having to live with adult children who can afford them or they will be out on the street.

That's what we are facing. My husband was diagnosed with Parkinsons two months ago. That means heavy medical bills and probably years and years in a nursing home for him at some point. It could wipe us out and I could be on the street ... an elderly person with medical issues and homeless.

The anxiety level is really high here right now ...

a reply to: FlyersFan

I feel for you FlyersFan.

The world is a sh@t show right now.

And the fact is getting older is not for the faint of heart.

49 myself and beginning to feel my turns around the sun.

All the best to you and your husband.

And i hope he still has a good quality of life and you both enjoy many more years together.

a reply to: TzarChasm

With one of the highest suicide rate in the world Switzerland is reacting to very disturbing often public actions, by facilitating the wish to end ones own life in a controlled environment. It's just mitigating the Traumata it has on the public.
Adressing the issue would require world changing events that would uproot the status quo.
We've got still too much to loose to even think about mustering the courage needed to go after the actual problems that plague us.

I bet if our culture was more about blaming others for our problems, and we were though by politics that killing them would solve our problem we would beat the USA in gun violence too. But alas, we blame ourself and look inwards for solutions...
when you look long enough you'll realize the future is bleak, no matter what you do. Some start to enjoy life and not give a # and some will go crazy to solve it ending up with one form of that final solution. Kill yourself or kill the problem.

We all suffer from the same fundamental issues we just deal with them differently according to our own culture.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Do you have the legal recurse to define the conditions that warrant a suspension of life suport?

Can mental incapacity, move that decisions to your kids, if you don't declare your wishes beforehand?

while normally I am adamantly against ending ones life...

if I was losing my mind, I can see the appeal we can adapt to almost any situation as long as our mind is still functioning correctly.

Not much I consider worse than losing the brain.