A terminally ill Missouri woman is planning to travel to Switzerland to attempt physician-assisted suicide while she is still physically able to travel.
Gail Hendricks, a 79-year-old mother of two from Cape Girardeau, was diagnosed with lupus and interstitial lung disease four years ago and says her lung capacity continues to deteriorate.
“I've lived a wonderful life and I want to have dignity as I move on to the next stage,” she said. 12 Kenya.
After her diagnosis, her shortness of breath continued to worsen, and she was breathing heavily even when standing on flat ground.
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A doctor injects thiopental, a barbiturate drug used in euthanasia procedures, into a syringe at a hospital in Belgium on February 1, 2024. (Getty Images)
“My friends will say, 'But you don't look, sound or act like someone who's dying,' but I am dying and I want to be in control of it,” she said.
“I don't want to get to the point where I'm like, 'This isn't living, this is existing,'” Hendrix continued.
Hendrix must use an oxygen machine and can only walk short distances.
Before her diagnosis, she led an active lifestyle that included frequent travel for work, hiking and biking.
“My mom was always busy. She was always … working three jobs or traveling somewhere, a concert or a festival,” her daughter, Charlene Foreste, told the news station.
Hendrix is originally from North Carolina and is now retired after a career in human resources. She lived in other locations throughout her career before returning to Missouri.
“I'd like to say I'm a poet, a painter and a musician, but I have nothing in those areas,” Hendrix said with a laugh. “So I guess I started walking because I could. I'm an avid walker and I walked three to five miles a day. I did that every day up until three years ago.”
After retirement, Hendrix grew bored and returned to work as a contact tracer during the pandemic. She recently retired again and is preparing for her next chapter.
“It's going to be difficult, but we know that, and we definitely know what to expect and what the end result is,” Foreste said.
Hendrix and Foeste are due to board a plane this week to fly to Switzerland, where Hendrix will end his own life by assisted suicide on September 26th.
“When I started to see it getting less and less each month, I knew it wasn't as good as last month, and that's when I knew if I wanted to do it while I could still walk, I had to do it now,” Hendrix said.
Physician-assisted euthanasia is legal in 10 US states and Washington, D.C. Two states, except Vermont and Oregon, have residency requirements.
Disability campaigners from the Death with Dignity group demonstrate with placards during a rally in support of proposals to legalise assisted suicide in the UK on April 29, 2024, in central London. (Getty Images)
But Hendrix chose to end her life in another country because, among other rules and regulations, for assisted suicide to be legal in the United States, a patient must have six months or less to live.
“I don't want to wait that long,” Hendrix said. “I don't want to get that sick.”
Even before her diagnosis, Hendricks had been campaigning for assisted suicide rights for decades, including through groups such as Compassion and Choice, a non-profit organisation that works to increase access to so-called euthanasia.
She filled out the euthanasia paperwork this spring and was scheduled to travel to Switzerland in August, but had to postpone her plans because there were no slots available for euthanasia procedures at that time.
“They put an IV in your arm, and they put you to sleep with some medicine first, and then they shut down your whole body,” Hendrix said. “The IV has this button thing on it, and you press that button and the fluid starts flowing. It takes about five minutes.”
Once she is alive, she will be cremated and her body will be shipped back to Missouri within the next few weeks.
Hendrix said she has no fears about the trip but is aware of the impact her death would have on her family.
“This is a big loss. It's a big loss for us,” Foeste said. “It can't go back to the way it was before. It can't go back.”
Hendrix said she has had tough conversations with friends and family who do not support her decision to end her life through assisted suicide, some of whom believe what she is doing is morally wrong.
“Some of them are religious and have certain views, but I've been talking openly about it for a long time, in front of people, so I don't think it shocked them,” Hendrix said.
Her daughter is among those who do not support her decision to take her own life.
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On April 29, 2024, in London, UK, activists from the Death with Dignity campaign group held a rally in support of the right to euthanasia as MPs debated proposed changes to euthanasia laws in the House of Commons. (Getty Images)
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“I can't say I agree with my mother's decision. I don't,” Foeste said, “but it's not my choice. I love her and I support her. There's no way she would do this alone.”
“I love her and I support her 100 percent no matter what,” Foeste added. “She knows that and my kids know that. I wish more people were like that.”
Hendrix said she knows she could miss out on a better quality of life, but she doesn't want to risk lying in a hospital bed.
“I'm happy with my decision and it's the right thing for me and my body,” Hendricks said.
