A Mother's Warning on Assisted Dying After Son's Death in Switzerland

I am working in Switzerland. Without a serious illness and diagnostic you can't get assisted suicide in Switzerland. There must be a lot he hasn't told his family.

I think he was in deep emotional pain. He sounds like a lovely man. Ending your life isn't an easy thing. Sad but I hope he's at peace now.

I've known three close people who took their own lives here in America. I can definitely relate to them. You "healthy" people have no clue just how awful mental suffering really is, and there really isn't help globally as far as I'm concerned.

As a mother who has lost a son to suicide myself, I think that there are potential benefits to this way of ending one's life. Almost all suicide methods are violent, traumatic ways to go, leaving the family with a harrowing ordeal regarding identification. One of the biggest questions that haunts me is "Did he suffer before he died?". Another thing that hurts me every day is that my boy had to die alone. Done in the right way, euthanasia could alleviate all of these issues, and whilst the family would still have to come to terms with a terrible loss, the traumatic element of the bereavement would be greatly reduced. With the benefit of hindsight, and knowing the complexities of suicide grief , I would suggest that this way would be the lesser of two very sad and awful options.

I am in a wheel chair with MS I will die from it. I have spoken and signed the papers in NZ you have to have two Doctors to agree…. Why would I want to live when I can do nothing feel nothing and lay in a day bed all day. No thank you I want to die… all my family know, my son took a while but is on board now. I will be dying when I no longer use my hands and can not do anything I hope it will not be for a couple of years…… it’s my right to end it when I can not live my life with dignity… Sorry Mum but he organised it all. Take it from some one who knows about😢 depression he made his choice as how I would do it I love my family… but I have made my choice…

People deserve MERCY.

He talked but nobody listened and some people can still eat when they are deeply depressed

The mother's narrative seems to deliberately omit key details about her son's diagnosis and mental state. It's misleading to focus solely on the cost and ignore Switzerland's stringent requirements for assisted suicide, which includes a thorough assessment by multiple doctors and a confirmed terminal illness. His visible decline and repeated mentions of suicide suggest a depth of suffering that's being downplayed. It's important to respect his autonomy and decision, even if it's difficult to understand, especially as Swiss law allows for assisted suicide in cases of unbearable suffering, whether physical or psychological...

When someone does something extreme without communicating, there's a reason they stopped communicating. Sorry for your loss, but this was what he wanted.

This is so sad. When his mom said that he wasn't at this stage....he was. That's why he did this. It's heartbreaking when our loved one feels this destitute. We want them to hang on but they just can't.

This is ridiculous and because he probably knew how the family would react - he kept them in the dark. That should be the point of this reporting: family ghosted due to lack of their acceptance and support. I do understand that he was loved and now missed - but this scaremongering isn’t helping anyone.

5:54 Mother says "And we had every hope that eventually the "problem" would be solved and his life would pick up again" Clearly the family had no idea what depression is, calling it a "low mood" is sooo far from the reality of it, they were ignoring his illness. This likely made him feel alone and unsupported.

Stop BLAMING Switzerland the man was dead a long time ago!!!

My uncle went from shoveling snow in December to being unable to go to the washroom on his own within 3 months. He didn't want to be a drain on his daughter's lives that, had moved home to take care of him. He had his favourite key lime pie and went to sleep in his own bed and that was it. He chose assisted because the alternative was dying in a hospital pumped full of narcotics surrounded by strangers and continuing to be a drain on his daughters. He didn't want their memories of him to be of his remaining days suffering in some hospice. The feeling at the funeral, that he had all planned, wasn't the usual sadness because he was the one who had decided. Seeing people dying with dementia and no longer having the ability to choose to die with any shred of dignity is heartbreaking. Their final days are monetized.

When a person wants to take their life, it’s to end his suffering as the suffering is too severe to endure. The suffering isn’t low mood, it’s a feeling of utter terror, and a sense of failure because the person feels that they must control it and make it stop, but they can’t stop it. The person may have been told its mind over matter so they believe their character is weak and they feel vulnerable because they can’t stop the feeling or terror, the terror is like an adrenaline rush to run,run, run, anywhere to escape but they know they can’t escape as it stems from themselves. Even little things, trivial things can trigger the terror, because it’s depression. Weight loss is usually caused by continuous diarrhoea as the emotions cause that upset. It’s a horrible condition, so horrific that to stop feeling that way as it’s hellish, the person decides to submit to death.

whats just as tragic is how clueless the whole family is

This poor man should not be vilified. His mother is just thinking of herself. He has every right to take his own life. I understand his reasons and hope that should the time come, I will be able to take my own life. He didn’t tell his family because he knew he would face opposition. How does his mother know what her son was feeling inside.

He probably couldn't get through to his GP surgery or get any mental health support. That's where we're at in the UK now. He was suffering with no chance of meaningful support & treatment other than "text SHOUT or call the Samaritans" neither of which you can get through to or who can offer the real help he needed. It's shameful. Deepest sympathy for him & his loved ones.

Many mothers are clueless about how their sons are lonely and depressed.

This is extremely weird. I live in Switzerland and I know the system. One can not be accepted for a médicalised scheduled suicide just like that. There is more to the story but it remains private..