List of famous people who died of euthanasia, listed alphabetically with photos when available. This list of celebrities who died from euthanasia includes information like the victim's hometown and other biographical information when available. Unfortunately many famous people's lives have been cut short because of euthanasia, including actors, musicians and athletes.
With people ranging from Terri Schiavo to George V, this is a great starting point for a list of your favorites. Featuring people who were on a feeding tube, bad cases of euthanasia, and examples of assisted suicide, this list has it all.
This list answers the questions, "Which celebrities have died from euthanasia?" and "Which famous people died due to euthanasia?"
These notable euthanasia deaths include modern and past famous men and women, from politicians to religious leaders to writers. Everyone on this list has has euthanasia as a cause of death somewhere in their public records, even if it was just one contributing factor for their death.
Jean-Luc Godard was a pioneering French-Swiss auteur who was the founding father of the New Wave cinema movement. His debut film Breathless (A Bout De Souffle) catapulted him and Jean-Paul Belmondo to international acclaim. Following his breakout, Godard directed a series of successful and critically-acclaimed films such as Contempt (Le Mépris), Alphaville, and Masculin Feminin. He frequently collaborated with his then wife, Anna Karina, on movies like Le Petit Soldat, Une Femme est une Femme, Vivre Sa Vie, Bande à part, Pierrot le fou, and Made in the U.S.A. He was also one to never shy away from politics with incisive documentaries like Goodbye Language. He died from assisted suicide on September 13, 2022. According to the New York Times, his long time legal advisor, Patrick Jeanneret, said that Godard chose to undergo assisted suicide having suffered multiple disabling pathologies. He was 91.
Jean-Luc Godard (3 December 1930 – 13 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the 1960s French New Wave film movement, and was arguably the most influential French filmmaker of the post-war era. According to AllMovie, his work "revolutionized the motion picture form" through its experimentation with narrative, continuity, sound, and camerawork.
Terri Schiavo is probably the most well-known and publicized case of euthanasia in the the US. Schiavo suffered a heart attack in 1990 which left her in a persistent vegetative state, with almost no brain function. She was kept alive with a feeding tube for over a decade before her husband began a campaign to allow her to die. This was a very public case with a lot of supporters for both sides. Some felt that keeping her alive with no chance of waking up was simply prolonging her suffering, while others felt that killing her would be immoral. On March 18, 2005, her feeding tube was officially and legally removed, which led to her death on March 31.
Birthplace: Lower Moreland Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was an Indian activist, politician, poet, writer and playwright. He was responsible for the end of the caste system in Hindu culture, and at one point was accused of being involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. On February 1, 1966, he began to refuse the medicine that was helping keep him alive, and food and water. He fasted until he died on February 26.
George V was King of the United Kingdom from 1910 until his death in 1936. In the first World War, George was seriously injured when he was thrown from a horse, which exacerbated existing breathing problems he had due to his excessive smoking. This, along with many other illnesses led to his extended vacation which continued until his death. On the 20th of January, 1936, George was in such bad health that he was mumbling and cursing. In order to preserve his dignity, his doctor gave him a lethal injection of cocaine and morphine.
Hugo Claus was a very prominent Belgian author, playwright, poet and film director. His death by euthanasia was very controversial at the time, even though the procedure is legal in Belgium. Later in his life, Claus had been stricken with Alzheimer's which had been extremely upsetting for such a prolific mind. He asked to be euthanized on the 19th of March, 2008.
Annie M. G. Schmidt was a Dutch writer of children's poetry, literature, and theater. She is considered one of the greatest Dutch writers of all time, and the "queen" of Dutch children's literature. A day after her 84th birthday, she decided to end her life by euthanasia, taking pills which stopped her heart.
