Maren Cogan
Appearances
Today, Explained
The right to die
Yeah, there has been a really high level of consensus in Switzerland around the practice of assisted suicide for decades now. And anytime the Swiss people, they do a lot of direct democracy in this country, anytime the Swiss people are asked whether they'd like to overturn assisted suicide, the answer is pretty resoundingly no.
Today, Explained
The right to die
But that's kind of all been upended with the invention of a new technology, the suicide pod. So this is a pod. It looks sort of like a tanning bed from the future. You can buy nitrogen gas cheaply and you hook it up to this pod. You lay down inside the pod. The pod asks you if you're prepared to die, essentially, and you say yes and hit a button.
Today, Explained
The right to die
It fills the chamber that you're in with nitrogen gas and you pass away. And it was invented by, I would say he's the world's most prominent and strident right to die advocate. He's actually an Australian named Dr. Philip Nitschke.
Today, Explained
The right to die
It's called SARCO, short for sarcophagus, and the idea is to revolutionize assisted suicide by taking doctors out of the picture. How long does that take? Well, so it's only been used once so far, and it was a very controversial case. It can take several minutes.
Today, Explained
The right to die
It's been used once by an American woman who came to Switzerland to be the first person to use the sarcopod to end her life. Now, if she had just come to Switzerland to end her life using the standard Swiss protocol, I think we probably would have never heard of this case. But the fact that she used the sarcopod has been massively controversial, and I think it has really
Today, Explained
The right to die
raised a bunch of really difficult-to-answer questions about the practice, both here in Switzerland but around the world, as more countries decide whether or not to legalize and enact medical aid in dying. And one of the countries that is sort of really struggling with those questions right now is Canada. No kidding. What's going on in Canada? So Canada has had medical aid in dying since 2016.
Today, Explained
The right to die
It has become a more frequent choice for many people at the end of their lives in the last several years since it became legal. It is very controversial, though, and a lot of people have concerns about who is approved for medical aid in dying and why. So there have been some stories that have come out about people who have been approved for medical aid in dying previously.
Today, Explained
The right to die
who didn't necessarily have a condition that was causing, many people would believe, unbearable suffering. It wouldn't reasonably bring about the end of their lives. I think even more concerning than that for a lot of people is that there have been reports that people are seeking medical aid in dying for non-explicitly medical reasons, such as financial insecurity, fears of loneliness.
Today, Explained
The right to die
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I want to say these aren't totally theoretical or speculative concerns. Some of them are real. You know, there are real concerns that some people are seeking and getting approved for reasons that are not necessarily life threatening or terminal illnesses. So there's an example of this from a recent government report that came out a few months ago.
Today, Explained
The right to die
There was a case study of a man who was in his 40s who had inflammatory bowel disease, and he really did suffer a number of issues because of that inflammatory bowel disease. He had difficulty maintaining a job, relationships, maintaining a social circle, that sort of thing.
Today, Explained
The right to die
It was actually raised to him during a psychiatry assessment if he was aware that medical assistance in dying was an option for him. There was no documentation that showed that his family was engaged in the process. And this man had a history of mental illness and substance abuse. His substance abuse was not really explored during MAID assessments, and he wasn't offered addiction treatments.
Today, Explained
The right to die
So there are real concerns that this isn't just people who are suffering from something and clearly at the end of their natural lifespan, but people who are dealing with other issues who may be being presented with MAID as an option.
Today, Explained
The right to die
And I think that the critics' main concern of this is that this could become sort of a more appealing option or an option that sort of pushed on really vulnerable people who might otherwise be helped with some other form of treatment.
Today, Explained
The right to die
Yeah, it's a great question. You know, I think the flip side of that is that people have been doing this for centuries and people have been getting help with ending their lives for centuries. And I think the other thing that I think about a lot is that the question of what care looks like is really hard to answer.
Today, Explained
The right to die
The day before the story ran, I was taking a walk and I saw a man on a bridge in Geneva. And I walked by him not thinking too much of it because this is like the most famous bridge in Geneva. And the water is so beautiful and clear and sort of turquoise. And people stop to look at it all the time. But I just had a sort of strange sense about this guy.
Today, Explained
The right to die
So I decided to sort of turn around and see if I could get a better look at him. And he looked at me, I looked at him, and I thought, oh no. So I quickly made my way back to him because I felt like I just needed to ask him if he was okay. And there was a sort of construction zone set up between where he was and I was, so I couldn't see him while I was walking back to him.
Today, Explained
The right to die
But by the time I got back to the bridge, he wasn't there. And I realized that he had jumped. I ran down to the water, and I'm really happy to say this man was okay. People had seen him. He was pulled out of the water. And I stayed with this man. It was a sunny day, but it was really cold.
Today, Explained
The right to die
So I put my hat and my coat on him and just stayed with him until someone came to pick him up and talk to him as best I could in my broken French. And the thing I was thinking about a lot after that happened was... that care looks really different in different scenarios, right?
Today, Explained
The right to die
So I think that man in that moment really needed to be saved and really needed to be shown love and be shown that people care, you know? But I also think that there, and, you know, having had loved ones die, I've also seen times where Care might look different from them, right? And I've had loved ones who I've had conversations with about this.
Today, Explained
The right to die
And I've also just sort of in my broader social circle have seen people decide that they don't want to undergo medical treatment anymore, right? Decide that they don't want to keep eating anymore. Decide that they're done. It's hard. Those questions are really, really hard. And I think balancing people's needs and their rights and their autonomy and their pain are all really, really important.
Today, Explained
The right to die
And I think, yeah, it just looks different depending on what the scenario is. So I think it's really incumbent on these societies to find a balance between respecting people's autonomy and individuality and right to make their own decisions, and also making sure that we're not encouraging something deadly, right? I don't know that there are easy answers to this.
Today, Explained
The right to die
I think it genuinely is really difficult, and I think getting it right is like the most important thing that any society could do, right? It's a matter of life or death.
Today, Explained
The right to die
So in the 1942 Swiss Criminal Code, they basically added a provision that says that assisted suicide for selfish purposes was explicitly outlawed. Now, by omission, that meant that assisted suicide for non-selfish purposes was allowed. And it kind of all took off from there. It was the first country that sort of explicitly allowed it in its criminalization. criminal code.
Today, Explained
The right to die
But most of the people who are seeking assisted suicides, most of them are Swiss. Some of them come from other parts of the world. Most of them are elderly and at the end of their lives and have some condition that is going to reasonably bring about their death sometime in the near future.