See answer below.
Found this online. “Death with dignity” nonprofits are making a sh*t load of money off suicidal people. Bus fare to the nearest bridge, cliff or tall structure is 1/100th what they charge, not to mention plane fare to Switzerland. But I suppose anyone who pays into their scheme deserves to be fleeced.
Google prison suicides. If they can do it, we certainly aren’t any more special than them. All corpses are the same, equal dignity.
I just find it particularly disgusting that these “non profits” are making so much off of our misery and parading under some righteous banner.
The following is from an article in a Swiss newspaper. For reference. 1 Swiss franc is about 1 US dollar.
$7,500 to kill yourself.
$10,500 if you want them to dispose of the body.
“payable in advance”
______________________________
How much does assisted suicide cost?
Beyond the Dignitas membership costs (200 francs for a one-off joining fee, or 80 francs a year), people wishing to pursue assisted suicide must pay an upfront 4,000-franc fee, without any guarantee this suicide will go ahead.
A further 1,000 francs must be paid for medical consultations and the writing of the prescription for medication required.
Finally, if assisted suicide goes ahead, another 2,500 francs is charged to cover Dignitas costs, according to their website.
Dignitas can also organise funerals and oversee administrative affairs.
The total cost is therefore 7,500 francs without funeral and administrative services and 10,500 francs with those services – usually payable in advance.
9 comments
That sounds like a worse deal than a Netflix subscription.
now that is funny! 🙂
There’s an old computer engineer joke:
Once upon a time a manager needed someone to come in an work on his server. The computer engineer that he called told him based on the problem described it would be $7000 up front, and so much rode on this server that the manager said okay.
The engineer showed up later that day with a small toolbag. After running a few diagnostic tests he took a small hammer out of his bag and hit the case of the server once with the hammer.
The manager was outraged “How could you charge me $7000 for a solution that you solved with a $5 hammer?!”
The engineer said quietly: “The charge for the hammer is $5, the cost of the skill of knowing where to hit costs $6995”
——-
I looked into this from an analytic perspective, suicide success rates and such. There are some high effective methods, and some that are so ineffective you’d have a better chance taking up an expensive dangerous hobby than dealing with the disability that a failed attempt would leave you with.
Prison suicides are managed because of a cluster of highly motivated people with limited means and nothing to lose. If they fail an attempt they have access to some of the most ruthless and tribal people on the planet, they can get help finishing the job. You or I don’t have those resources, and if you are going to try to get to prison to get access to those resources, there are easier ways to go.
Those with the money to pay will pay it for convenience and not having to do it themselves. The method probably doesn’t cost most of that, but the expertise to get it right the first time does.
In the state I live in we routinely execute people in capital punishment, and we’re bad at it because the state is always searching for cheaper ways to kill inmates, yet somehow more humane. The last guy I heard about getting a lethal injection was attempted twice, neither succeeded and the man is still alive.
It’s hard to kill a human entirely AND quickly. As far as trying to off yourself, you’d be surprised what you can live through.
Dignitas is a non-profit group.
Therefore, a more fitting analogy would be:
Once upon a time a man was on his deathbed but afraid of going to hell. So he called a priest. The priest charged the man $7000, sprinkled him with holy water and prayed “God please don’t send this soul to hell.”
The man said, that’s it? How could you charge me that much for a simple prayer? The priest says, “$5 for the holy water. $6995 for the prayer, because business is business.”
Or if you prefer, how about a joke about the Red Cross charging hurricane victims $7000 for food and water?
Or, this isn’t even a joke, how about suicideproject charging $200 dues for membership so you can use their forum to talk to suicidal people online? That is what Dignitas does. Non profit my ass.
Sounds like about how much a proper funeral service costs in the U.S. I mean, coffins are expensive, man. Do they need drink holders or something? Just toss me in a wooden box and bury me under a tree or a shrub. Probably better for the environment than whatever they use to treat the wood in those fancier options. No embalming either. Yikes. I’d hate to think that my corpse might stay fresh for years. I’m not a freaking vampire.
And before anyone else says anything – average for a funeral in the U.S. is about $7,000 on the low-end. Just the funeral and all related crap.
According to their website, Dignitas only arranges a simple cremation. They charge $3000. A two second google search turns up the following: “According to the Cremation Research Council, the average cost of a direct cremation is $1,100”
I’m not sure if you’re attempting to excuse this non-profit’s profiteering, but if you are I’ll point out that this is a non-profit group, and they’re charging 3x what the commercial sector’s average fee is.
Funeral aside, you gotta love a humanitarian non profit that charges you a mandatory membership fee of $200, then an additional $4000, read that again, $4000, just to consider your case. No guarantees that they’ll even help.
So unless you’re in the habit of paying $4000 to your mechanic just for an estimate, I think you have to agree that this non-profit is profiting handsomely from the business of misery.
I’m not attempting to excuse anything. The entire concept of an industry revolving around death is morbid and sick, imo.
I don’t know what to say? I’m not encouraging anyone to commit suicide what so ever! assisted is ok in cases where your in a hospice for example you know gee give him a little more morphine, but paying to have someone to help kill you is going to cost you!