Having lived with a progressive form of multiple sclerosis for ten years, Marianne Brooker’s mother voluntarily stopped eating and drinking in 2019, prior to the legalization of assisted dying in the UK. Marianne's book, Intervals, about her mother’s decision and her own experience caring for her at the end, positions her demand for assisted dying options within wider issues in the ethics and politics of care. As Marianne makes clear in conversation with Assisted Lab’s Vanessa Rampton, for assisted dying to be socially just, it needs to be grounded in a relational theory of persons and of freedom.

In Filming Death (Edinburgh University Press, 2024), film scholar Outi Hakola examines how documentary films depict palliative/hospice care and assisted dying. In conversation with Assisted Lab’s Anna Elsner, Hakola discusses the concept of a "good death", the ethical challenges of portraying dying individuals, and whether films on assisted dying are inherently activist. She also explores how cultural perspectives on death shape cinematic narratives, explains why she thinks that assisted dying is less of a topic in Finnish documentary films, ponders the future of death documentaries and reveals some unexpected connections between dying and humour. The episode concludes with Hakola’s recommendations of three notable death documentaries: Seven Songs for a Long Life (2016), Before We Go (Jorge León, 2014), and Nathan – Free as a Bird (2013).

Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Humanes Sterben (DGHS) versteht sich als Bürgerrechts- und Patientenschutzorganisation. Sie hat sich erfolgreich für die gesetzliche Anerkennung der Patientenverfügung im Jahr 2009 und die Abschaffung des Verbots der Suizidhilfe im Jahr 2020 eingesetzt. Seitdem gehört auch die Vermittlung von assistierten Suiziden zu ihrem Tätigkeitsfeld. Wega Wetzel, Pressesprecherin der DGHS, gibt im Gespräch mit Marc Keller von Assisted Lab Einblicke in die Geschichte und die Aktivitäten der Organisation und erläutert die rechtliche Situation in Deutschland. Sie erklärt, wie medial vermittelte Fallgeschichten in den vergangenen Jahren zu einer wachsenden gesellschaftlichen Akzeptanz des Themas beigetragen haben. Auch fiktionale Werke wie Alejandro Amenábars Spielfilm Das Meer in mir (2004) und Ferdinand von Schirachs Drama Gott (2020) haben die öffentliche Debatte wiederholt intensiviert. Um das Thema greifbar zu machen und den Dialog zu fördern, organisiert auch die DGHS regelmäßig Lese- und Filmabende mit anschließenden Publikumsgesprächen.

In recent years, assisted dying has become a topic of public debate in Latin America. Although it was decriminalized in Colombia in 1997, other Latin American countries are now beginning their own processes to legalise the practice and popularise what has been termed the right to a dignified death. Having defended and won two landmark legal cases on the question of ‘death with dignity’ in Peru, Josefina Miró Quesada Gayoso has become an important figure in Latin American debates on the topic. In this conversation with Assisted Lab’s Jordan McCullough, she discusses the legal contexts surrounding assisted dying in several Latin American countries and shares her experience of being directly involved in the cases of Ana Estrada and María Benito. She also reflects on the role of stories in informing public opinion on assisted dying and highlights several fundamental distinctions between the development of 'death with dignity' and assisted dying discourses in the Global North and the Global South.

Der in München lebende Schweizer Schriftsteller Nicola Bardola hatte mit seinem 2005 publizierten Roman Schlemm, in dem er das gemeinsame Sterben seiner Eltern verarbeitet, die bundesdeutsche Debatte um Sterbehilfe befeuert. Im März 2024 ist der Roman in erweiterter Form neu erschienen unter dem Titel Der größtmögliche Beweis für Liebe. Im Gespräch mit Marc Keller von Assisted Lab spricht Nicola Bardola nicht nur über seinen Roman und die Entwicklung der Suizidhilfe in Deutschland und der Schweiz, er denkt auch darüber nach, was ein gutes Sterben im 21. Jahrhundert bedeutet und welchen Beitrag Literatur und Film dabei leisten können.

Sound Credits

Sound bites used in Intro and Outro:

• Susan McReynolds, Radio Show 'Cross Country Checkup', 17 April 2016
• Claire Fourcade, Interview on Le Figaro TV, 18 December 2023
• Petra Sitte, Session of the German Bundestag, 2 July 2015
• Pablo Echenique, Session of the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados, 11 February 2020
• Emmanuel Macron, Reception of the members of the 'Convention citoyenne sur la fin de vie', 3 April 2023
• Carolina Darias, Press Conference, 24 June 2022
• German Constitutional Court, Judgment of the Second Senate, 26 February 2020
• Fiona Bruce, Debate in the UK House of Commons, 11 September 2015

Music used in Intro and Outro:

prazkhanal, Whip, Pixabay, 30 April 2022

Medical assistance in dying (MAID) has been legal in Canada since 2016, and is a widely accepted end-of-life procedure throughout the country. Philosopher Daniel Weinstock has been an observer of, and sometimes participant in, the consolidation and evolution of the legal framework governing MAID. In this conversation with Assisted Lab’s Vanessa Rampton, he shares his insights into Canada’s trajectory, the specificities of Québec’s place within it, and how norms and values change over time. He invites us to think about how to pass from individual stories to sound societal policies, and the country’s experience of assisted dying law-making as a court-led process. As many Canadians grapple with the sense that MAID’s eligibility should be curtailed in the light of failings within the health care system, this conversation reflects on to what extent our ideal social organization affects our ability and responsibility to provide MAID or not. In doing so, it also highlights the value of philosophical reasoning in an imperfect world.

Sound Credits

Sound bites used in Intro and Outro:

• Susan McReynolds, Radio Show 'Cross Country Checkup', 17 April 2016
• Claire Fourcade, Interview on Le Figaro TV, 18 December 2023 (© Points de Vue – Figaro Live 18.12.2023 / Groupe Figaro)
• Petra Sitte, Session of the German Bundestag, 2 July 2015
• Pablo Echenique, Session of the Spanish Congreso de los Diputados, 11 February 2020
• Emmanuel Macron, Reception of the members of the 'Convention citoyenne sur la fin de vie', 3 April 2023
• Carolina Darias, Press Conference, 24 June 2022
• German Constitutional Court, Judgment of the Second Senate, 26 February 2020
• Fiona Bruce, Debate in the UK House of Commons, 11 September 2015

Music used in Intro and Outro:

prazkhanal, Whip, Pixabay, 30 April 2022