(Jim Van Buskirk has co-hosted death cafés for many years and currently volunteers as a regional coordinator with Final Exit Network (FEN), counseling callers on end-of-life options, and reviewing books and films for FEN’s quarterly magazine. Most recently he edited the anthology, There At The End: Voices from Final Exit Network – A Celebration of 20 Years.)
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As we all know, Hollywood repeatedly misrepresents reality. This is particularly frustrating when a character uses a (nonexistent) “peaceful pill” to choose the time of their death.
In a recent episode (season 4: episode 8) of The Morning Show, an elderly woman is intent on hastening her death. After reading a brochure for a (fictitious) Swiss clinic, a few episodes later, she obtains a single “illegal” pill, which she eventually pops and almost immediately falls asleep and dies peacefully.
A variation of this scenario appears in Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door (2024), in which Tilda Swinton plans on ending her own life with a “euthanasia” pill procured on the Dark Web.
In Blackbird (2019), Susan Sarandon’s character, Lily, who is terminally ill with ALS, plans to end her life on her own terms by taking a lethal dose of medication provided by her doctor husband.
Exit International’s excellent publication The Peaceful Pill Handbook defines a peaceful pill as “a pill or drink that provides a peaceful, pain-free death at a time of a person’s individual choosing; a pill that is orally ingested and available to ‘most’ people.” Twenty years ago, professor of civil law and Dutch Supreme Court Judge Huib Drion proposed such a pill be made available to all people over the age of 65. Today “Drion’s Pill,” aka “The Peaceful Pill,” remains hypothetical.
In his bestselling book and now e-book Final Exit, Derek Humphry referred to the nonexistent pill as a “magic pill.” A single peaceful pill is simply not available. In 1980 Humphry called his new right-to-die organization the Hemlock Society, referencing Socrates’ use of hemlock to self-deliver.
As depicted in The Sea Inside (2004) in 1998 Ramón Sampedro (Javier Bardem), having become quadriplegic after a diving accident, drank cyanide.
In the Canadian series Mary Kills People (2017-2019) Dr. Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas), working at the emergency department of the community General Hospital, provides assisted suicide in the form of Pentobarbital in a flute of champagne, as a compassionate alternative to death tourism to Switzerland.
Pentobarbital (aka Nembutal) was removed from most countries’ prescribing schedules in the late 1990s. Obtaining Nembutal (or anything else useful) over the Internet is so highly unlikely that the probability at this point is about zero. There are nothing but scams. In the Medical Aid in Dying protocol, multiple medications are ingested in a proscribed sequence.
These representations are nothing new. In Harold and Maude (1971), Bud Cort is horrified when Ruth Gordon reveals that, as planned, having turned 80, she has taken a pill to end her life. The depictions of a simple, straightforward option mislead desperate people. To wit, the day after The Morning Show episode, FEN received this message: “I would like to have the peaceful-pill option plan for end of life for myself when applicable, and am interested for my parents’ care. Please help me, my mother, and my father.”
After which a death doula friend, texted me, “Yes, I thought about how that one pill description might cause a stir…”
By using the trope of a “peaceful pill,” Hollywood does a disservice to individuals seeking options to hasten their death. Perhaps filmmakers will eventually do their homework and not use fictitious plot devices. Until then, Final Exit Network coordinators provide factual information about callers’ options in their individual situations.
(Please scroll down to comment, and feel free to share our blog posts with others who may benefit from them.)
Final Exit Network (FEN) is a network of dedicated professionals and caring, trained volunteers who support mentally competent adults as they navigate their end-of-life journey. Established in 2004, FEN seeks to educate qualified individuals in practical, peaceful ways to end their lives, offer a compassionate bedside presence and defend a person’s right to choose. For more information, go to www.finalexitnetwork.org.
Payments and donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Final Exit Network is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
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Excellent comments Jim. These fairy tales do nothing to educate or empower the public about their realistic choices at the end of life.
When I see an email from “good death” I am always hopeful that the title means what it says. But no. The essays are all denying. My husband has ALS. When his time here is over I will also want to leave. I’m 75. Arthritic. Often in pain. I have lymphedema. I’m losing the feeling in 4 fingers on my left hand. None of the things I loved to do are within my reach now. I am overweight and get winded easily. And I don’t understand why I’m not allowed to choose my time and have a way to end my life. That scenario is the only way I could have a “good death”. Do you ever publish anyone who has a view like mine and/or someone who has a recipe that could end a life??
Hello Julie — if you search for the words “good death” in the right column of our blog site, several articles will come up. Whether or not they are what you’re looking for will need to be determined by you. Another option is to go to Final Exit Network’s website (https://finalexitnetwork.org/resources/other-resources/final-exit-by-derek-humphry/) to read Derek’s book Final Exit. Hopefully at least one of these resources will include information you’re searching for. Thanks so much for your support of The Good Death Society Blog!
Jim – Thank you for making it clear that there is no such thing as a ‘Peaceful Pill’. As the 2022 edition of ‘The Peaceful Pill Handbook’ says on page 52, “The Peaceful Pill is a metaphor … for a death that is peaceful, reliable….” and “….the book is titled thus as our guiding star.”
Good, “hard” (in more ways than one) information. There is no free lunch.