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Criminal Law and Assisted Suicide in Switzerland Hearing with the Select Committee on The To Die Forth Zdravko Jovanovic A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER'S OF FINE ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN FILM (PRODUCTION) YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO MAY 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80499-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-80499-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract To Die Forth is about human rights and human fears. It is about trust in authority and the power of experts to normalize social practices, to expand and restrict freedoms... Of ten with ironical effect. It is about the loose definition of suffering, of dignity, of worth. It is about human rights hinging upon rhetoric as precipitated by experts and the media. It is about the tension between democratic theory and practice. It is about duty, professional and interpersonal. It is about mortal anxiety and taboo surrounding death - particularly 'unnatural' human interventions. It is about human subjectivity bleeding into hegemonic portrayals of 'universal causes'. It is about the human will to control destiny. Apparently, this film is about everything except kitchen sinks.... It is about state regulation VS personal liberty. It is about liberality as cause-bearing heroism. It is about the cleft between what the officialized / specialized authority deems benevolent practice and what the involved individual claims is best for themselves - in this case the film has to parse the peculiar naivete of uninformed personal preference and authoritarian enforcement. It is thus also about the incommunicable nature of pain, the unscalable thresholds of despair and agony, their self-determination...and therefore it requires not only patient trust in doctors taking their cure from patient's accounts but also about the hard-wrested task of inter-subjective communication. And therefore, about the power of words and faith in the counsel they bear in terms of decisive medical action. IV Table of Contents Abstract iv Contextual Introduction 1-3 The Concept 4-7 Death As a Commodity 8 Assisted Suicide and Andrei Haber 9 Defining Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide 9-10 Andrei Haber 10-17 Preliminary Research 18-24 Belgium and The Netherlands 24-31 Switzerland and Dignitas 31-33 Soraya Wernli 33-37 Ludwig A. Minelli 37-39 Blue Oasis 39-49 Cryonics Institute, Michigan, USA 50-53 Art Imitates Life 53-61 Constructing a Vision 61-64 Fear of Life 65 Appendix: Criminal Law and Assisted Suicide in Switzerland 1-6 v Contextual Introduction The year was 2007. I had recently graduated and moved back to Europe. I was living in Belgrade, Serbia, working for different artists and art organizations. I was, at the same time, becoming more and more suicidal. I realized that the image of Serbia that I had created during my vacations was not the same Serbia once I lived there. I was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the filmmaking industry. I imagined that after I graduate with a degree in Film and Video and in French Studies, with the focus on literature and linguistics, I would come back to, what I considered my true home, and start a team and start making films. Instead, I encountered an exploitative arts industry which thrived less on creativity and more on the profit motive. What disturbed me the most is that the majority of those who were getting funds to make art were, in one way or another, affiliated with political parties or non-governmental organizations which are actually big money laundering institutions implemented under the premise to help Serbia's integration into European Union. The industry insiders that I met, the artists themselves, the ambassadors of different countries who would frequently attend art galas or art events, the whole scene seemed too contrived and too disingenuous. I consequently reached a point where I simply did not see a reason as to why I have to live. I prayed that my life would be taken away. I was inviting death into my life, but I was too afraid to do it on my own. November 9th, 2007 was a night that would change my life forever. My prayers were answered. I was involved in a very serious car accident. I was in the front passenger seat. The driver hit a ditch. The impact caused my body to be jerked forward and because I had 1 a seat belt on, the air from my lungs was pushed out, my right rib cage was broken, causing me to choke. This lasted for approximately 30 seconds until I passed out. That is when I saw my body on the ground, as I was floating above it. I saw a speck of light on the corner of my left shoulder. Instinctively, I entered the light, and experienced extreme warmth, brightness and a voice that communicated to me telepathically. I did not see who was speaking to me, but the conversation that I had with "the being" was resonating within my head, within my brain, within my very being. The most intriguing aspect of my experience is that this light knew all about me. I felt acceptance, love and understanding that I had and have never experienced in my life. The light knew that I knew that this is what I actually wanted. It felt embarrassing, but we laughed about it. Everything seemed so right- over there and here. Everything made sense, from what we deem as the most important aspects of our lives to the most trivial issues. In an instant, I knew, for instance, why I was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, why the war happened, why I am a triplet, why I am as tall or as short as I am... The light presented me with a choice: I choose whether I want to stay or go back. As soon as I was presented with this option, I thought of my family, my friends, what I still wanted to do, how ridiculous it was to worry over 99% of all the things we tend to worry about; one of my thoughts was also, "But, there are so many films I have to make." I instantaneously started falling, back into my body. I woke up in the hospital. This experience, no matter how strange it might sound to many, changed me profoundly. It is only sometime later when I started sharing what happened to me with my family and my friends that I realized that I had what is called a "Near-Death Experience." I was frantically trying to find out what had happened to me; there was no doubt, in my mind, 2 that this experience was real, as real as any other experience that I encounter on a daily basis. As much as my experience convinced me that we are all here, for the lack of a better term, for a reason; that we are here, now, not by chance, I became more and more obsessed with death itself. My near-death encounter left me with a lingering question: Why are we so afraid of death? If what happens after we die is so beautiful, then why should anyone worry about dying? It is this question that was the initial inspiration of my Thesis work. My quest to answer this question, however, not only opened a Pandora's box; the question itself metamorphosed, challenging the very foundation of my work and my personal convictions, thrusting me back into the areas that I had thought I had conquered and mastered, and pushed me to re-evaluate the very root of my inquiry. 3 The Concept "Creativity is the power to connect the seemingly unconnected" William Plomer (African born English Writer, 1903-1973) Since the premise of my research would be to focus on question of Why are people afraid of death and dying?, I realized that making a film about near-death experience would not allow me to confront this question in a way that would provide the concrete answers to this specific question and allow me to analyze this fear separated from those who do not have this fear anymore.
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