The World Is an Easier Place Without You In It
By Karen Shepard
Last summer, the Review received an email from the agent of novelist Karen Shepard, recommending a truly unusual piece of writing. “In short,” her agent wrote, “it’s the story of Karen taking her aging mother to Switzerland for an assisted suicide.” The accompanying draft was not a personal essay or a reported feature about the rise of medical assistance in dying, but a compilation of primary documents—culled from emails, voice messages, texts, and family ephemera—assembled into something like a story, an accounting of the conversations, both moving and darkly funny, that emerged from her mother’s request to end her life and the odyssey to see it granted. It’s a snapshot of the banal logistics that facilitate even the weightiest decisions, but more than that an excavation of the past and of the complex bond between Shepard and her mother, an inveterate but expert user of the ellipsis.
— Tarpley Hitt, online editor
September 17, 2023, 11:22 P.M.
From: Ymei
Subject: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: Karen Shepard
how much advance notice does one need for a date.. ?
are there any particular requirements….?
what is the cost….?
can you find out…?
*
September 18, 2023, 8:26 A.M.
From: Karen Shepard
Subject: Re: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: mom
Hi Mom,
The name of the organization is Pegasos. VAD stands for Voluntary Assisted Death, and they’re in Basel, Switzerland.
The way it works is that you fill out an online application and submit the required documentation. Approval can happen in a few weeks, but it can take a couple of months, or longer, if they’re busy.
The required documentation: a passport, proof of residence (like a utility bill, etc.), a birth certificate (reissued within the last six months), medical records, and I think you may need dad’s death certificate, but I’ll check about that.
I asked them what to do if there were no birth certificates issued at your place/time of birth, and they said just use an affidavit that says that you’ve tried to get a birth certificate and can’t.
The cost is estimated around 10,000 Swiss francs (about 11,000 US dollars) which includes everything except airfare and hotel costs.
I sent them an email asking about your ashes being buried in Lausanne. I also wrote to Bois-de-Vaux cemetery in Lausanne to ask the same question. Will let you know what I hear back.
Whatever you decide you want, I am here to help you.
All love,
Karen
*
September 18, 2023, 11:39 A.M.
From: Ymei
Subject: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: Karen Shepard
forget it – it costs too much to do..
must be an easier and cheaper way…!!
i forget whose wife but after he died
she got the right selection of pills and died….
*
September 18, 2023, 11:43 A.M.
From: Karen Shepard
Subject: Re: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: mom
I’m sure there’s more inexpensive ways, and no doubt ways that involve less paperwork—though as I said, I’m willing to do that part of things for you. I imagine what you sacrifice is control and certainty. And, of course, anyone who helps you in this country will be exposed to prosecution for doing so.
*
September 18, 2023, 12:35 P.M.
From: Ymei
Subject: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: Karen Shepard
the right combination of pills will do the job…
that’s what ? wife did after he died….
*
September 18, 2023, 12:56 P.M.
From: Karen Shepard
Subject: Re: ….swiss self-end-of-life…
To: mom
It could, for sure. But it’s not a sure thing; it could also, as in the case of some people we know, not do the job, leaving them in pain, out of control, dependent, and worse off than they had been. And that’s if you can figure out how to get the amounts of the medications you would need.
*
February 14, 2024, 10:05 A.M.
Voicemail
Tang Yungmei to Karen Shepard
Karen, can we go to this place as soon as possible? I’m dying here. I want to get out of this place as quickly as possible. Can we get out of here? My leg is worse, and my stroke effect is worse. Everything is worse. My leg really hurts. Get me out of here, okay?