End of life procedure in Switzerland misused for vulnerable elderly mother

[lemonsqueezer55]

A family friend is bi-polar and come off her medication. She needs to be help and the family is on that but meanwhile she has arranged an assisted death in Switzerland. She is struggling with poverty and this is another reason why she wants to end her live. A man has taken 10,000 from her to make the arrangements and help her travel there. While the family is working on getting her mental health help is there any way to get the man to stop? Is there an advocacy group that could help me make a complaint to the police?

The family does not believe she would go through with the travel and procedure even in her incapacitated state if he was not preying on her. I can see in the news other families are struggling with this. He is based in the UK and the mother is overseas.

Here is an example of just one of many families dealing with it.
‘There was no dignity for our family,’ says niece of Irish man who died by euthanasia - Gript

And tips on where to get help would be appreciated.

I can call the agency in Switzerland but that will only delay or prevent her booking. It won't stop them from misusing what should be an end of life procedure for the terminally ill or people in pain.

@sprigatito Reading all of these posts I don't think it is a scam. I think this is a service he is providing. It's just unfair that she is vulnerable and he is making a business out of that. The trust fund is managed by a lawyers firm that is also going into receivership over mismanagement which is a whole other story.

I said I would.
Someone in the same country as the vulnerable woman, who is close enough to be directly involved and in discussions with all the family, could make a good case for acting to protect her and prevent harm. Whether they would be prosecuted, charged under the laws of whatever country this is, we don’t know. Someone in that position would need to investigate.

As someone suffering from chronic and enduring mental illness, I can attest to the marginalisation, loneliness and social exclusion (not to mention poverty which the original poster did mention) can bring.

Deciding to bring one's miserable life to a close can be a perfectly reasonable decision whether one if 'off one's meds' or not. Why would she have gone 'off her meds'? Probably because she is exhausted and sick (if she is bipolar) with living the awful side effects such as going up 4 dress sizes without changing your diet, thyroid issues, hair loss, acne, tardive dyskinesia or any of the many other horrible side effects these 'meds' bring.

One may become tired of that existence and lucidly decide to end it. One of the clinics provides a witness service for the procedure. That is probably the man being referred to in the post. This person accompanies the person to the clinic so that they can be formally identified afterwards. 10,000 is the standard cost of a voluntary assisted death in Switzerland.

I must say I do find it so tiresome when people infantalise mentally ill people and attempt to have them sectioned or have their right to self determination taken away from them. Mental illness causes suffering that can be every bit as awful as physical illnesses. Why should someone unlucky enough to be suffering from a serious mental illness be excluded from the comfort of a peaceful end if they are not religious.

Well said