What It Looks Like to Watch a Parent Choose the Date of Their Death

Devon lost his mother and stepfather to medical assistance in dying within 13 months, and a close friend suddenly in between. A conversation about supporting a death on someone else’s terms.

DevonOn losing both parents to medical assistance in dyingApril 15, 2026Watch 44 min

What does it look like to watch your parent choose the date of their death, and to support them through it?

In this conversation we sit with Devon, who lost his mother and stepfather to medical assistance in dying within 13 months of each other, while losing a close friend to a sudden, unexpected death in between.

In this conversation

0:00Introduction: "This year has been our apprenticeship with grief"
1:45The panic attack the day his mom went into surgery
4:30A call on a mountaintop: "Get your affairs in order"
8:00"I’ve picked the date. It’s May 30th." Three weeks of uncertainty
13:20What it means to support someone else’s death on their terms
17:00The day itself: champagne, six pies, and Billy Joel's Vienna
22:10The before and after: grief as a committing step
26:00His stepfather Malcolm's decline with dementia and second MAID

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Devon