SARCO

 
   The very stylish SARCO pictured above is a streamlined coffin-like contraption, designed to assist you in committing suicide, if you choose to do so. It has been produced in Switzerland, where a lot of other well-designed products are made, and the maker of it would like it to be available globally via a 3D printed design. SARCO, I bet, is highly unlikely to make it to Canada, and not because of the current supply chain problems.

   The designer is the director of Exit International which is a group that supports euthanasia. If you are interested in that subject, and in favour of it, you will be pleased to know that SARCO makes it easier; nitrogen is slowly released into the chamber and the occupant quickly and painlessly ceases to exist. More importantly, this makes DIY dying much simpler, since one can make the choice and not need the assistance of a medical authority to administer a drug.   

   What could go wrong? Well, as a pro-euthanasia, pro-MAID supporter, I am thinking, plenty. It is highly unlikely that I will be able to saddle-up in a SARCO and not because of supply chain issues. There are many anti-MAID proponents and these anti-choice deniers are more adamant than the anti-climate change ones. I am sure that there are already many pro-lifers preparing legal briefs, arguing that if such an option is allowed, there will be a Sarco surge, propelled partially by relatives too eager to purge the planet of their irritating elderly parents. As well, government agents are likely to support Rent-A-SARCO agencies to assist in the elimination of those in public-supported facilities who are draining the public purse.

  Such things do need to be thought about and perhaps SARCO will help. One article notes that this new device "Inflames the Assisted Suicide Debate", but it also notes that:

Others who have studied the ethics of voluntary assisted suicide welcomed the debate that Sarco has inspired. Thaddeus Pope, a bioethicist at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minn., said the debate about Sarco could lead to a new way of looking at end-of-life options, including by legislators.
“That might be bigger or more important than the actual Sarco itself,” he said, adding that Dr. Nitschke was “illustrating the limitations of the medical model and forcing us to think.”
“There are a lot of people that live with illnesses or conditions that they don’t want to live with, but they don’t qualify for medically aided dying where they live,” he said. “If he really goes forward with it, this may get the nonmedical approach to hastening death some more attention.”

Sources:
   If you simply type in "SARCO" in December 2021, you will find many articles, some of which suggested that Switzerland had approved the SARCO, which is not exactly the case. The article I mentioned is: "A 3-D Printed Pod Inflames the Assisted Suicide Debate," Christine Hauser, New York Times, Dec. 16, 2021. 

   More about MAID is found in my post: More Contrarian News for Old Codgers (OATS3)

  For non-Canadian readers "MAID" is an acronym for "Medical Assistance in Dying." Many are opposed to offering such assistance, including some doctors who argue that they should only be delivering MAIL - "Medical Assistance in Living. " For more see: Canada's New Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) Law.

The Bonus: 
  For those of you too busy to research SARCO, it is apparently short for sarcophagus. That word you will have to look up on your own. 
  Those of you on either side of the MAID issue will be interested to know that there is a Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Germany, where they do know a lot about dying. 

                 Making Light of Heavy Things Since 2016.
 

More Contrarian News for Old Codgers (OATS3)

 The News Continues to Be Bad

(The Death of Elaine)

   Loyal subscribers will know that OATS is an acronym for Old Age ThemeS and the themes are typically negative in tone. It is produced to offset the propaganda to which you are otherwise subjected. If, like most of my friends, you are determined to avoid decrepitude and are going to live healthily and happily until you die while exercising at the age of 110, give or take a few years, you should stop reading now.

MAID

   MAID is a Canadian acronym for Medical Assistance in Dying.  Those of us codgers who have a more realistic view of our future generally welcomed the news back in 2016 when it was decided that we had a constitutional right to determine when we might choose to leave. There were those, however, who disagreed and were determined to erect speed bumps so we could not exercise too quickly the right we were granted. The number of obstacles that were to be encountered if you were attempting to pull the plug, were so numerous that you were more likely to die of old age than you were from having a last shot of Single Malt and an injection from your doctor. Even as I type, Bill C-7 is being re-considered in an attempt to make dying easier. But not too easy. 

No Way To Go

   I am actually feeling well and had not been thinking about MAID until I remembered an article from a few months ago. It was about an 83 year old gentleman from Nova Scotia who was suffering from COPD and had had enough. He did all the hard work that is required to overcome the obstacles constructed by those who did not want him to have an easy passage. His MAID request was finally approved, however, and he was good to go. Although it is difficult for Canadians to choose to die, what made this story newsworthy was the fact that another hurdle was erected right before the finish line and placed there by his wife and her lawyers.

Husband Wins - He Dies

   The article from a few months ago which caught my attention was about the efforts of the wife of the gentlemen above, who initiated court proceedings to prevent his passing. About this, he was not happy and they stopped speaking after nearly 50 years of marriage. It was one of those 'He said', 'She said' situations. He said he was suffering and suffocating, she said he was anxious and mentally incapable of making such a decision. More important, one suspects, were her moral objections to MAID. He moved out. I wondered what happened.

  In this case, the husband did have the last word. After a few months of legal proceedings, the wife's request was denied. He pulled the plug. It is a sad story. The ones included in OATS usually are.

Sources:

  "Husband, 83, Dies With Medical Assistance After Wife's Court Bid To Stop Him Fails: Jack Sorenson of Bridgewater, N.S., Died on Saturday Following Legal Battle With Wife Over MAID," Taryn Grant, CBC News, Oct. 6, 2020.

  For Bill C-7 see this recent G&M editorial: "Reasonably Forseeable Litigation," Oct.16, 2020. 

   Given that the Bill attempts to make dying a little easier, there are many who are opposed. See, for example, this statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops:
"Today, more than 50 religious leaders from across Canada released an open letter to all Canadians in opposition to Bill C-7 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). This ecumenical and interfaith message is a response by religious leaders to the legislation introduced by the federal government on 5 October 2020 which seeks to expand the eligibility criteria for euthanasia and assisted suicide (euphemistically called “medical assistance in dying”) by removing the “reasonable foreseeability of natural death” criterion currently in the Criminal Code, and by loosening some of the existing “safeguards” allowing patients whose death is “reasonably foreseeable” to waive final consent to receiving euthanasia by making an advance directive."

   If you think MAID is a good idea, support for making the process easier is found here:
Dying With Dignity: It's Your Life. It's Your Choice. 

For the official government web site see MAID. 

For more postings in the OATS Series see here and here. 

The Bonus:

  Usually the OATS postings are accompanied by this image:

  The new one at the top is a painting by Homer Watson, The Death of Elaine. Now you know who the boulevard in Kitchener is named after. The image is from Homer Watson: Life & Work, by Brian Foss. Both the image and the biography are found on the website of the Art Canada Institute.