March 29, 2024

A mystical side to suicide

As I may have said before, I do not support assisted suicide. But I would like to understand it better. In this respect, I have found nothing better than a Swiss documentary about the work of Dr Jerome Sobel and his group Exit in the Francophone cantons of Switzerland.

Exit: le droit de mourir (Exit, the right to die) was made in 2005 and won a few prizes. I reviewed it some time ago and it always stuck with me. Earlier this year the director finally eleased it on YouTube (with subtitles). It is a stunning film with very subtle editing and brilliant photography. It is also quite disturbing as several people die before the unblinking gaze of the camera.

I was expecting ethical arguments in favour of assisted suicide such as terminal illness or unbearable pain. But to my surprise, his angle was that the accompagnateurs, the death escorts, are warm-hearted guardian angels who have a vocation to lead people into a better place. Sobel is depicted as a Christ-like figure; a board meeting is even framed as a Last Supper, featuring him surrounded by his 11 disciples.

Have a look for yourself, but my feeling is that a person with a vocation to help people die is a dangerous man or woman. Take Philip Nitschke, the recently suspended Australian doctor who informs people about how to kill themselves. He believes that he is crusading for human rights; he has been linked to a number of deaths. Sobel frames his work as a post-Christian work of charity. Perhaps that is why his organisation is pressing for access to Swiss nursing homes (see story here). They want to proselytise as many as possible.

This is one of the most dangerous aspects of legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia. It will be aggressively promoted by groups who feel that they have been called to kill.

Michael Cook
A brilliant documentary shows that there is more to assisted suicide than meets the eye.
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assisted suicide
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