Former Owner of Studio 54 in NYC Takes Like in Assisted Suicide at Swiss Facility
Edited by: TJVNews.com
As assisted suicide continues to be a option for those with terminal or very severe illnesses in which medical options are limited, it was recently reported that high profile personalities are also availing themselves of these methods.
According to a report in the New York Post, the former owner of the infamous Studio 54 nightclub in New York City has chosen to end his life through this modality.
Last month, 82-year-old Mark Fleischman decided to end his life after battling prolonged illnesses that could not be treated.
The wheelchair bound Fleischman paid $15,000 to die in this manner at the headquarters of Dignitas, a non-profit organization that legally provides heart-stopping drugs to those who suffer from untreatable illnesses, according to the Post report. Fleischman chose to die at the organization’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland inside what appears to be a ranch style home.
As with others who have chosen this route in ending their lives, Fleischman drank sodium pentothal on Wednesday. According to the Post report, Fleischman’s wife of 27 years, Mimi, said that the sodium pentothal has a bitter taste so the staff at the facility recommended to her husband that he follow it with a sweet drink and some chocolate. She told the Post, “He ate it and drank it. Then, a minute later, he looked around and said, ‘I don’t feel anything.’ I think it was a throwback to his drug-taking days. Three or four minutes later, he was asleep.”
The Post reported that Monday night, a doctor from Dignitas came to their suite.
“He wanted to make sure Mark could swallow,” said Mimi. “Beyond that, he seemed concerned that this was Mark’s choice and that he was not being influenced. The doctor wanted to know who makes decisions, who is the boss in our relationship. Mark said, ‘Mimi figures everything out.’ I replied, ‘Under your direction. You tell me what to do and I do it.’”
In fact, it was Mimi who found Dignitas for him after Mark told her he was determined to take his fate into his own hands, according to the Post report. “I came up with this idea,” she said, “as an alternative to him committing suicide at home.”
“There was always the option that he would change his mind; but in reality, it was the opposite,” Mimi told the Post. “But by the time we got on the plane to Zurich, he was adamant. He made a decision and this was what he wanted to do, even as friends read about Mark and asked him not to do it. But Mark wanted to die on his own terms.”
Mimi also said that her husband who was a hotelier, restaurateur and nightclub owner began to rethink beliefs about his spirituality, God and his eternal future.
The Post reported that Mimi said:“Mark used to not believe in God at all. He was a complete Atheist. He started to believe in God during the last few weeks. I believe in God … Mark came to believe that there is life after death. He made a change in his belief system about the continuation of existence. I asked if he would come to visit me. An old friend believes that Mark already came to visit him. Mark and I talked about the fact that I would continue to see him and feel him in my life.”
In June, Fleischman, who lived in Marina Del Ray, told The Post that he had been giving serious consideration to the idea of ending his life for at least two years.
“I can’t walk, my speech is f–ked up and I can’t do anything for myself,” he said. “My wife helps me get into bed and I can’t dress or put on my shoes. I am taking a gentle way out. It is the easiest way out for me. I came to the decision slowly. Two years ago, I decided that it wasn’t worth living. I took a lot of Xanax and ended up in the hospital.”
The Post reported that Fleischman told them that emergency room doctors were able to save his life even after taking a massive amount of Xanax.
He told the Post that soon after that that he “read a book about ending life. I read in there that the easiest way is to suffocate. But I did not want the pain. I was going to buy a gun. But my wife interceded. We started looking into a place where it would be legal to find someone to do it with.”
The Post reported that Fleischman’s body will be cremated in Switzerland and forwarded to Mimi at her California home.
Recalling her final moments with Mark, she told the Post: “I didn’t cry. I was overwhelmed and relieved that he is free.”
