Help Thoughts on Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) in Switzerland? For those with chronic and/or debilitating conditions.

[TooMuchHasHappened]

Have any of you guys looked into this before, or better still made an application? Or have you personally known anyone who has died this way? I'm thinking of applying this week and wanted to see if anyone on here has made any enquiries about it before? Or if non of the above, what are your thoughts about this method if a person is eligible?

The laws in Switzerland are pretty relaxed if you have chronic and/or debilitating conditions. I've looked at a few different companies and settled on the one I got the best feeling about (probably the wrong one knowing my luck lol). It's 100CHF (approx $125) for the application fee, then if accepted the remaining balance is paid in two instalments. The total cost for international patients is 9500CHF (approx $12,000), this also includes cremation, URN, and URN shipping. Yes it's expensive, but just pay on a credit card(s), it's not as if you'll have to pay it back. Well, check the laws in your country, but I'm pretty sure in the U.K. that upon death personal debt is written off, so family will not be liable to repay.

For those who are interested, the company I'm looking at starts with an A and ends with an S. I'm not sure if I can give the full name here sorry, I should be able to because it's a legal method, but I don't want to break any rules or anything.

Only Sodium Pentobarbital is used (I wish I could get this myself somehow lol).

I also wanted to post this in case anyone has not considered this before, or are afraid of dying by SN or another method and would prefer to die in a supported medical facility. For those of us with chronic conditions it's definitely something worth considering in my opinion. I'm going to apply sometime this week, it's probably going to take some effort as I'm guessing this won't be an easy process getting all the necessary paperwork etc, but I'm going to give it a shot. The application fee is non refundable if unsuccessful, not much to lose in my opinion.

Edit: Due to an unfortunate and frustrating comment that I received from someone (that will hopefully be deleted), I feel it necessary to make it absolutely clear that this will not be an easy process. I honestly thought (given the fact that it's assisted suicide) that that would go without saying, but even so I still said in my OP that this won't be an easy process (this is now in bold in the OP, and it is the original text I wrote). But for some reason this person said that I was "listing this as easy" even though I literally said that it won't be. I apologise if my post comes across that way despite me saying it won't be easy; I've now took steps to make this even clearer. Anyway, because of this I've had to edit my post and make this comment so hopefully no one else thinks that I'm "listing this as easy" or anything of the sort. I thought that everyone would realise that getting killed legally won't be easy lol.

I spend a lot of time on the vast majority of my posts because I put a lot of thought and effort into them, making changes many times because of my indecisiveness and OCD. Even the short ones take me an unusually long time, in fact I'm starting to think that I suffer with "Post Anxiety" lol. I do this to try and avoid any misunderstandings and/or misinterpretations etc, and avoid getting comments like the one I received. Hopefully this clears everything up.

 

[behindtheveil]

Hey there, I just want to point out it's not as easy or straightforward as you have listed here. They have some of the strictest checks and qualifying criteria. However, if a person has a debilitating condition as you mentioned, then there is some hope.
I got in touch with one of such organizations and to explain them my situation was a tormenting task. It was a shot in the dark so didn't qualify. But one important fact that I came upon from this experience was that there is no standard criteria it seems. Their decision is discretionary.
And yes, ctb via nembutol would be so much better.

 

[DeathSweetDeath]

There would be no point in applying since no one in my family would sign off on it. I hope your family is more understanding than mine. I also chatted with someone here who had applied but didn't realize their spouse would have to agree to it, so that was the end of that.

 

[TooMuchHasHappened]

There would be no point in applying since no one in my family would sign off on it. I hope your family is more understanding than mine. I also chatted with someone here who had applied but didn't realize their spouse would have to agree to it, so that was the end of that.

Really? The family has to sign it off? Well that's the end of that for me too then if that's the case. I would have assumed that it's our decision and nobody else's. I'm single so don't have to worry about a spouse agreeing, but I'm pretty sure my parents (I'm in my 40's btw) would not sign off on it. Couldn't even imagine having that conversation with my parents, in fact yes I can, they'd be absolutely devastated even though they know I've had enough of all this suffering. Thanks a lot for that information, you've just saved me wasting my time and money applying.

 

[TooMuchHasHappened]

Hey there, I just want to point out it's not as easy or straightforward as you have listed here. They have some of the strictest checks and qualifying criteria. However, if a person has a debilitating condition as you mentioned, then there is some hope.
I got in touch with one of such organizations and to explain them my situation was a tormenting task. It was a shot in the dark so didn't qualify. But one important fact that I came upon from this experience was that there is no standard criteria it seems. Their decision is discretionary.
And yes, ctb via nembutol would be so much better.

I apologise that my post came across to you like I was framing assisted suicide as "easy or straightforward". I sincerely did not intend it to come across that way to you or anybody else. I can't understand how it did come across that way because I literally said that it will take some effort and it won't be easy:

it's probably going to take some effort as I'm guessing this won't be an easy process getting all the necessary paperwork etc

I don't know what's involved in the process of assisted suicide (I said in my post that I'd only just started looking into it myself) so I couldn't comment any further on that. When I became aware that it was possible with certain chronic and debilitating conditions, I looked and found a few companies and in Switzerland (as I read that the laws there were pretty relaxed compared to the rest of the world), briefly looked on their websites and at the costs, then thought I'd create a thread to talk about it, that's all. It's up to each individual to do their own research regarding the criteria etc and learn exactly what's involved, and I'm sure it goes without saying that being legally killed will not be straightforward. I assumed that some people may not know that assisted suicide could be a possibility for them (I didn't know myself until yesterday) so I wanted to make a thread to share what I'd learned. That all said, I think it unfair of you to say that I was suggesting this was easy or straightforward.

 

[behindtheveil]

I apologise that my post came across to you like I was framing assisted suicide as "easy or straightforward". I sincerely did not intend it to come across that way to you or anybody else. I can't understand how it did come across that way because I literally said that it will take some effort and it won't be easy:

I don't know what's involved in the process of assisted suicide (I said in my post that I'd only just started looking into it myself) so I couldn't comment any further on that. When I became aware that it was possible with certain chronic and debilitating conditions, I looked and found a few companies and in Switzerland (as I read that the laws there were pretty relaxed compared to the rest of the world), briefly looked on their websites and at the costs, then thought I'd create a thread to talk about it, that's all. It's up to each individual to do their own research regarding the criteria etc and learn exactly what's involved, and I'm sure it goes without saying that being legally killed will not be straightforward. I assumed that some people may not know that assisted suicide could be a possibility for them (I didn't know myself until yesterday) so I wanted to make a thread to share what I'd learned. That all said, I think it unfair of you to say that I was suggesting this was easy or straightforward.

Oh no, Please I didn't mean it like that. Of course you didn't mean it as easy. I was just trying to caution you that their process is quite tricky, and I didn't want you to lose your money.
I just wanted to share my experience with these assisted death organizations.

This actually brings up the age old point - it shouldn't be this difficult to end our own life.
And how do these organizations have access to nembutol or similar drugs when they say the companies have stopped making them.

 

[Echo]

The notifying of families before the procedure were changed after this case ( see link) after the family complained, this was for pegasos. I don't know if athansios has the same policy.

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-05-15...t-47-to-die-in-secret-apologises-for-failures

 

[DeathSweetDeath]

Really? The family has to sign it off? Well that's the end of that for me too then if that's the case. I would have assumed that it's our decision and nobody else's. I'm single so don't have to worry about a spouse agreeing, but I'm pretty sure my parents (I'm in my 40's btw) would not sign off on it. Couldn't even imagine having that conversation with my parents, in fact yes I can, they'd be absolutely devastated even though they know I've had enough of all this suffering. Thanks a lot for that information, you've just saved me wasting my time and money applying.

Yes. Sorry. I'm 50, single, childless, no siblings, and my parents are dead. I know better than to ask my aunts, they'd never agree to it. These companies have had problems with families of clients in the past & they want to prevent lawsuits. I think they're transparent about it on their FAQs page, but people still apply without realizing.

The notifying of families before the procedure were changed after this case ( see link) after the family complained, this was for pegasos. I don't know if athansios has the same policy.

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-05-15...t-47-to-die-in-secret-apologises-for-failures

Of course they do, they need to protect their interests just like Pegasos. I was chatting with someone who applied to Athanasios, somehow unaware of their policy. They couldn't continue because their spouse was against it & they knew better than to ask. I was surprised they didn't know that before applying.

 

[gardenhouse]

I

Yes. Sorry. I'm 50, single, childless, no siblings, and my parents are dead. I know better than to ask my aunts, they'd never agree to it. These companies have had problems with families of clients in the past & they want to prevent lawsuits. I think they're transparent about it on their FAQs page, but people still apply without realizing.

Of course they do, they need to protect their interests just like Pegasos. I was chatting with someone who applied to Athanasios, somehow unaware of their policy. They couldn't continue because their spouse was against it & they knew better than to ask. I was surprised they didn't know that before applying.

'm sure athanasios doesn't require family member approval, not sure about spouse. If you have a spouse how can you hide it?

 

[DeathSweetDeath]

I

'm sure athanasios doesn't require family member approval, not sure about spouse. If you have a spouse how can you hide it?

Could you rephrase?
Athanasios requires spousal approval.
Not everyone lives with their spouse.
Not everyone shares their future plans with their spouse.

 

[gardenhouse]

Could you rephrase?
Athanasios requires spousal approval.
Not everyone lives with their spouse.
Not everyone shares their future plans with their spouse.

I'm sure athanasios doesn't require family members consent, but they may require spouse consent, good thing is they only need medical records but not doctors, why a doctor has a say in you decision making of life and death.