Althouse: "She complained that her arranged death, which would have been the first one in the Sarco pod, had become a 'media circus.'"

September 24, 2024

"She complained that her arranged death, which would have been the first one in the Sarco pod, had become a 'media circus.'"

"McLaughlin also said that the group had pushed her to spend her money, telling her she 'won't need it after I die.' She said: 'I felt manipulated and exploited. If I had known that the deeply heartless people who held my fate in their hands were mainly driven by their own media presence and marketing, I would never have subjected myself to this ordeal.'"

From "Makers of Sarco suicide pod 'pushed another woman to spend money before she died'" (Daily Mail).

18 comments:

Jamie said...: Members of my book club and I were recently discussing the proposed expansion of Canada's MAID law to include people whose only complaint is a psychological condition like depression.

To my great surprise, one of my friends appeared sympathetic to doctor-assisted death (they don't even call it assisted suicide anymore - it's just straight-up doctor's action). We had also been talking about one of our number's recent hardships in dealing with an aging family member with dementia, and another's terrible troubles in dealing with an adult, middle-aged child with a mental disorder that is very difficult for the adult child to manage, necessitating a lot of parental involvement from across the country. So my friend, a very empathetic person who has known all these other women for years longer than I have, may just have been reacting to these situations - and really, all she said was that she didn't think it was anyone's place to judge people in that situation.

But I was surprised anyway, because we weren't talking about the sufferer's informed and conscious decision to die - we were talking about a decision to die made by - in the MAID expansion proposal - a person who we can't be certain is able to give informed consent, and - in the examples we were talking about - family members' making that decision for impaired loved ones who don't have an advance directive.

What I should have said, but it didn't occur to me at the time, was that as hard and awful the examples we were discussing are, hard cases make bad law.; 9/24/24, 5:42 PM
MadTownGuy said...: "At some point, you've made too much money." "At some point, you've lived too long."

I see a connection.; 9/24/24, 5:52 PM
n.n said...: Contract selfie-abortion.; 9/24/24, 5:57 PM
Aggie said...: /Sarc on "Sarco : In......Sarco : Out." /sarc off.; 9/24/24, 5:58 PM
Blair said...: Gosh, it's almost as if these people who have a vested financial interest in you killing yourself don't really care about you as a person...; 9/24/24, 6:08 PM
Nancy said...: "The pod's inventor, controversial assisted dying advocate Philip Nitschke, said at the time of McLaughlin backing out that her death was 'permanently postponed'."
Wow! Good trick if you can do it!; 9/24/24, 6:14 PM
rhhardin said...: Dying rich means that you're not consuming more than your share. Your money is capital buying ditch diggers power equipment instead. Why would you want to trash the power equipment when you die?; 9/24/24, 7:18 PM
Zavier Onasses said...: No getting back at them by leaving a bad Yelp review after the experience.

Good she found out in time, but how is it possible to confidently prevent mis-use of your name for product advertising if you do avail yourself of such services?; 9/24/24, 7:29 PM
Josephbleau said...: 9/24/24, 7:43 PM
Josephbleau said...: “the examples we were talking about - family members' making that decision for impaired loved ones who don't have an advance directive.”

I’ll make a directive tomorrow to keep me alive as long as possible even if it costs Medicare and I all our money. That will serve until I figure out the angles.; 9/24/24, 7:50 PM
Zev said...: The pod's inventor, controversial assisted dying advocate Philip Nitschke, said at the time of McLaughlin backing out that her death was 'permanently postponed'.
No death can be permanently postponed.; 9/24/24, 11:20 PM
Rusty said...: This is.......delightfully mecabre. A feel good holloween story just in time for holloween.; 9/25/24, 6:32 AM
J Severs said...: Agreed. Now you will live forever!; 9/25/24, 7:11 AM
Tina Trent said...: Canadians are learning just how quickly assisted suicide becomes required suicide. Ditto for mutilating childrens' sex organs, entrusting government agencies to decide what is hate and will be restricted as speech, denying people the ability to practice their profession if they disagree with government dictats, and, worst of all, forcing its citizens to learn French.; 9/25/24, 7:36 AM
mikee said...: I can't understand how someone wanting to profit off the suicide of others would ever dare to push the customers toward paying for their own suicides. Have they no limits? HAHAHAHAHA

If you want to die, jump from a height of over 30 feet onto a hard surface. 50 feet or more will make near-instant death just about certain. If the idea of experiencing a few seconds of pain after impact is stopping you, drink a lot first or take some drugs before the plunge. There, I saved you the thousands of dollars these bastards want to mulct from your death. Gravity is certain, and so is death.; 9/25/24, 9:30 AM
mikee said...: For those interested in using gravity rather than death by pod: https://outdoors.codidact.com/posts/40115/48147#answer-48147; 9/25/24, 9:48 AM
PM said...: "I would like to end my life."
"We have a chamber to perform this comfortably and without pain."
"Is it expensive?"
"Sadly, it is."
"Oh...all I have is $40,000."
"I think we can make an exception."; 9/25/24, 11:10 AM
gspencer said...: With the drumbeat of Abortion-Abortion-Abortion from Democrats and their leaders, quite happy that their Planned Partnerhood is itself happily selling baby parts, people express surprise at such attitudes toward the saps who consent to early death.; 9/25/24, 12:40 PM