Man with Alzheimer's explains 'hardest part' of applying for assisted death in Switzerland
A man has revealed the 'most difficult' part of applying for an assisted death in Switzerland.
In 2015, Alex Pandolfo was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, a condition that affects the brain and a person's cognitive function, eventually leaving them unable to look after themselves.
And he immediately knew what he was going to do when the doctor told him the news:
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His story comes as the Isle of Man looks set to legalise assisted dying and allow terminally ill residents with less than 12 months to live to kill themselves.
Speaking to LADbible in a new documentary, The Island Choosing Death, which explores the controversial bill, Alex opened up about his diagnosis and how he took the decision to end his life when his condition deteriorates.
The 70-year-old, who lives in Lancaster, England - where a similar bill was recently raised in parliament - was working as an education consultant at the time, and said he knew something wasn't right when he noticed time seemed to be 'vanishing'.
"I'd be sat down at the table and it'd be morning, and then some radio programme might come on or the television might come on and I'm thinking, 'Where's that day gone?'" he told us.
"I was having little mishaps in the kitchen, or not eating, things like that, so I went to see the doctor and he referred me to the memory clinic, and he said, 'You've got Alzheimer's'."
Surprised by his calm reaction, the doctor asked why he didn't seem 'particularly concerned' by the diagnosis, with Alex explaining he already had a plan.
'It's something that I suspected and I know exactly what course of action I will be taking', he told the doctor. 'I'm a long term supporter of assisted dying, I'm not going to go home straight away and do it but certainly over the next couple of months or weeks I will be filling an application form for an assisted death'.
But when it came to actually putting together his application, Alex said he was surprised by one particular aspect of it.
"Applying for assisted death in Switzerland, it's not as easy as people think, which is a good thing," he told us.
"First thing, you've got to be a member of one of the centres that provide an assisted death.
"My personal process was, I wrote to Lifecircle and said that I'd been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, but then you have to... do a biography.
"When I started writing it, I realised why you had to write that type of thing. What you're writing down is probably one of the most counter-intuitive things to a human person, you're writing why you want to die. It's the most difficult thing I've ever had to write.
"And then, because I was diagnosed with a condition that raises questions about capacity, I had to go for a psych assessment, and that was just for my application, and once that had gone through, I got the green light... which was a great relief to me because I'd already planned my suicide in case I didn't get it, because I was aware of what could come, not what would come.
"So that green light negated the need to do that, it saved my life. That was 10 years ago, I've had a brilliant 10 years; I don't have to worry about what's going to happen - if I start to deteriorate soon, I've got my insurance policy."
Elsewhere in the documentary, a mother admitted that she almost took her own son's life rather than watch him suffer.
In 2020, Millie Blenkinsop-French's son, James, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer after he noticed a pea-sized lump on his neck.
Over time, it ate away at him, with James sadly dying in excruciating pain the following year, aged just 51.
The 81-year-old said: “I’ve often said this to one or two people when I’ve had the conversation with them, ‘Have you ever sat and watched your child or somebody you love very much dying in horrific pain?’ ‘Well, no, not really… '.
"I said, ‘Well, you haven’t got a clue what you’re talking about’, I said, ‘You have not got a clue’.
“We would talk about everything, James and I, we were really, really close.
“He says, because he had dogs, he says, ‘When the dogs are poorly, to the point where there’s gonna be no hope for them', he says, 'You go and put them to sleep. I still can’t understand why people have got to wait until the end if there’s something can be done for them for them’.
“So we had a long discussion about it. If assisted dying had been in, I know James would have opted for it."
"Nobody should have to suffer like that, nobody."
She added: “There’s nothing like losing your child. Yeah, I know he was 51, but he was still my baby, do you understand? He was my baby. And it just didn’t seem fair. Why?”
But the assisted dying bill has divided people on the Isle of Man, with man deeply concerned about the impact it could have on the most vulnerable.
Some believe that it could see elderly residents forced to go through with it rather than become a burden on their families.
Dr Duncan Gerry told us that he has deep concerns about the impact it would have how it could be abused.
"This law demands that health professionals go down a route and a rabbit hole that we've never done before, which is actively seeking to end life," he explained.
"My challenge is, having looked in depth of what assisted dying does in the jurisdictions it comes into, one person's choice can negatively impact on somebody else.
"I'm very much a logical thinker, so I'm trying to work to the logic of what it means and what the implications are and what the outcomes might be, and who's going to be harmed more or less by it. And in terms of logic, it feels to me that you can't come up with an answer that works for assisted dying."
He added: "Does my gut instinct tell me the same thing? Absolutely."
Alex has previously spoken to us for our 'Minutes With' series. You can watch it here.
Topics: UK News, Health, Mental Health, Documentaries, TV and Film
Dominic Smithers