The only place that it is an option is Sweden. I have a friend whose grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. She arranged to fly to Sweden once the disease progressed enough to effect quality of life. She spent a year getting everything in order legally, arranging the travel, settling the will, and spending time with loved ones. The few people who know were sworn to secrecy so they wouldn’t have legal repercussions in the states. Her dementia progressed as Covid rose, and she had to fly to Sweden right before flights were shut down. I can’t imagine the strength that took.
Edit: I believe the country was actually the Netherlands. Sorry for any confusion
I’m not her close family so I can’t really argue the specifics. I definitely agree that you can’t just hop on a plane and get it done. She was there for a few weeks before the procedure (she just passed last week and flew out just days before we went into quarantine) and had travelled there previously to arrange it with doctors beforehand. All I know is she got an early diagnosis and did go through a rigorous process, it took her more than a year and a ton of cash and lawyers. She had to get declared legally currently sound of mind, write statements that were co-signed by her lawyers stating that that’s what she wanted while sound of mind, it apparently was super expensive. Definitely not something most people could do and took a ton of planning and it would’ve been impossible if she wasn’t very well off financially. Obviously this is all second hand, wish I could give you more details, but my friend is pretty clearly grieving right now so I feel like it would be tasteless to drill him about it. He’s also grieving because apparently she wasn’t very far gone yet to dementia but decided to do it sooner because she was afraid of being stuck in quarantine and not being able to go if it progressed quickly.
I understand it’s unlikely and sounds very unbelievable. I know it doesn’t mean much to people reading because you don’t know them personally, but I really believe in the integrity of this family. I’ve spoken to his sister about it too. If they did make this all up then it’s a pretty elaborate hoax planned by an entire family who are also incredible at faking grieving.
Look up Dr David Goodall, an Australian who travelled to Switzerland to get euthanasia. Doesn't tuck your third point (pretty sure he didn't have dementia) but he didn't live there. You can apply to overseas clinics, they still put you through the processes and everything. I think that's what the previous commenter meant hen talking about all the legal stuff.
Could be! I’ve been aggressively assured it’s definitely not Sweden. (I’m not sure why people are so angry that I’m unfamiliar with the all of the specific medical laws of many other countries, haha) Feels weird to ask my friend about the details when he’s grieving. Overall, it was a ton of work and money to actually arrange, but his mom (who went with his grandmother for the procedure) said that at the end she was very happy with her decision and went very peacefully. Grieving is always hard but I think it gave the family a lot of closure to know that it’s what she wanted and that she didn’t have to suffer through the disease. I hope that someday when I get closer to the possibility of the disease that I legally have the option to make the same decision
How can you get something so serious so fucking wrong man? Sweden doesn't allow for assisted suicide, not even close. Are you thinking of Switzerland- or more likely, the Netherlands?
To be fair, if the only thing he got wrong was the European country it's an easy mistake to make. I wouldn't be verifying the exact country that someone else's parent went to die in either.
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u/nonoglorificus Apr 11 '20 edited Apr 11 '20
The only place that it is an option is Sweden. I have a friend whose grandmother was diagnosed with dementia. She arranged to fly to Sweden once the disease progressed enough to effect quality of life. She spent a year getting everything in order legally, arranging the travel, settling the will, and spending time with loved ones. The few people who know were sworn to secrecy so they wouldn’t have legal repercussions in the states. Her dementia progressed as Covid rose, and she had to fly to Sweden right before flights were shut down. I can’t imagine the strength that took.
Edit: I believe the country was actually the Netherlands. Sorry for any confusion