Death Days

When income inequality, declining healthcare systems, and environmental collapse come to head, some people begin to ask: how long do I want to live? Death days become a growing movement. Not everyone wants to live to 90 or 100; some prefer a shorter, higher quality life by planning for a gentle end on a day of their choosing, or when a chronic disease like dementia sets in.

Having a death day makes financial planning and saving for retirement more predictable, helps reduce uncertainty about the future, and alleviates pain and suffering for some. Others are radically opposed to the idea, arguing that it will lead to forced deaths and an acceptance of systemic failures. Pro-life radicals compare it to playing god and violently attack the organizations offering end of life services.

Like birth, death divides.

Evidence:

• Switzerland's “suicide tourism” has long been considered controversial to outsiders, but the locals overwhelmingly support a patient’s right to choose how their life ends.

• Applications to Canada’s medically assisted death program has increased 34% since 2021 because of long Covid.

• In 2022, an inability to find suitable housing and struggling to survive on disability payments were characteristics of two high profile cases of assisted suicide in Canada.

Published: October 6, 2022