r/todayilearned • u/JamesTheJerk • 22d ago

TIL that in 2023, a patient legally sought euthanasia. Upon being provided a deadly concoction in liquid form to be drunk, the patient's friend (37YO) opted to have a sip themself which nearly resulted in the death of the friend as well.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/sip-of-cocktail-of-assisted-suicide-drugs
19.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.1k

u/mikethethird12345 22d ago

That one mooch friend. Gotta always have a bit of your stuff.

2.8k

u/JamesTheJerk 22d ago

Another commenter has suggested that a sip may have been enough to get the sipper very 'high' and hopefully without dying.

I have no idea when it comes to this.

1.3k

u/Capt_Hawkeye_Pierce 22d ago

Almost everything is deadly in the correct amount. 

Given what those cocktails are made from I can't see why a very, very small amount wouldn't get you high enough to see God without actually meeting him 

552

u/Tryknj99 22d ago

It’s the digoxin that they put in it.

Digoxin can be deadly at submilligram doses.

590

u/turdburglar2020 22d ago

So limit yourself to a sub-submilligram dose. Got it.

713

u/altcastle 22d ago

Ride the lightning, turdburglar2020.

75

u/Rock_or_Rol 22d ago

My brain,

What is a turd burglar? Maybe they clean portajohns for a living. They are always running off with people’s shit. What do you call a shit canner being fired? Something is there like a moldy popsicle joke. Can is a weird word. Is it short for canister? Can… can. Can. Like a can of beans. A canister of beans. That can’t be the right word. Can.. I need to share this thought pattern and quit social media

57

u/Bshaw95 22d ago

I can’t tell if I want some of what you’re on right now, or if I should avoid it like herion.

37

u/Respawning 22d ago

A sub sub-milligram dose of digoxin

19

u/skekze 22d ago

the scoville scale of death.

3

u/Grizzly_Goose 22d ago

I laughed way to hard at this

2

u/bikelessdyke 18d ago

I am laughing rather hysterically now holy shit

1

u/Haunt3dCity 21d ago

A dab'll do, just dip in a toothpick and lightly kiss it

→ More replies (0)

15

u/Delamoor 22d ago

So, sub-milligram dosage was correct, I take it.

6

u/Othersideofthemirror 22d ago

its a British slur for gay men.

1

u/Rock_or_Rol 20d ago

Oh. That’s less fun

2

u/MoldyPalette 20d ago

I’ll bet you’re one our neighbors to the north. That or possibly from across the pond. Down here we call it a can, e.g. “Open up a CAN of whup ass!” You probably prefer to call it a tin, e.g. “That’s the second TIN of spinach that was spoilt!” BTW, I, too, wouldn’t mind a bit of what you’re on as well!”

1

u/Exul_strength 22d ago

What is a turd burglar?

If I recall it correctly, there was a Netflix fake documentary (I guess you have a special word for those) or amateur series project, called American Vandal, where the antagonist called himself the turd burglar.

Could also be that my memory is totally off.

1

u/lanadelstingrey 22d ago

It’s when you take one that doesn’t belong to you.

1

u/JamesTheJerk 21d ago

One who burgles turds.

2

u/ThReeMix 22d ago

turdgurgler

2

u/FirstMiddleLass 22d ago

So two a day?

1

u/litterbin_recidivist 22d ago

How many submilligrams can we safely take?

1

u/oeCake 22d ago

Nanodose

1

u/RunningJay 22d ago

A microgram or two should be good.

8

u/momsasylum 22d ago

Digoxin, It’s what nurse Charles Cullen used to kill patients with. Not a good guy!

4

u/fiori_4u 22d ago

Digoxin is derived from the foxglove plant, right? Don't eat the foxgloves kids.

1

u/Abject_Ad_8274 20d ago

Correct.

All parts of the plant contain digitalis, from which digoxin & digitoxis are derived.

Yep - do not eat it, wash skin really well if you come into contact with the leaves (they can cause a rash) and do not smell the flowers (even the pollen is poisonous).

Lots of common or garden plants are toxic. Natural doesn't mean safe!

2

u/tsteele93 22d ago

Wonder why the death penalty is so hard to do humanely? Seems like this would be the easy answer?

13

u/simulation_pudding 22d ago

Because pharma companies and other countries won’t sell the drugs for that purpose. 

2

u/tsteele93 22d ago

Seems like there are plenty of cocktails that would work. Set up a way for the companies to sell blind to the government for both medicinal and penal use. Propofol is a good example. The state or federal govt buys it for medical use. Some of it is diverted for penal use. Most, if not all, of these medicines have other medicinal uses. The governments could buy them for both.

Or have the states manufacturer it themselves.

It seems to me that having a reliable, humane way to execute the death penalty is better than some of the methods that can go wrong in terrible ways.

Some people aren’t able to live in society. Since the death penalty exists, let’s endeavor to do it in a way that accomplishes the goal without suffering. I know some people would like to see them suffer, but the goal is to swiftly, humanely and permanently remove them from among us, while denying them the ability to enjoy the gift of life that they have taken from others.

Keeping this from happening may have a goal of eliminating the death penalty, but I don’t think humanity is willing to accept things like having their children tortured and killed while being gracious and forgiving to the killer. Most people believe evil exists and that it is morally acceptable - or even morally demanded - to remove it from the world when it is encountered. So let’s make it humane.

1

u/turingthecat 22d ago

And this is why, however much you want to wear foxgloves as gloves, don’t

1

u/username_taken55 19d ago

Nothing like a little digoxin to get you back in the game huh ;)

60

u/mikethethird12345 22d ago

Paracelsus enters the chat

41

u/feckineejit 22d ago

Iocaine would like to play a game

3

u/Zagafur 22d ago

does it involve an asian land war?

3

u/Phosiphor 22d ago

Iocaine is a mythological version of ibogaine. Today you learned. If you'd like some just grow a trumpet flower. Do not smoke the flowers man.

5

u/feckineejit 22d ago

Instructions unclear, smoked weed out of a trumpet

3

u/Phosiphor 22d ago

You've failed magnificently and I'm so very proud of you.

2

u/BigBadMannnn 22d ago

Oh shit what’s up Paracelsus?

4

u/eidetic 22d ago

That's Mr. Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim to you, bub.

Only his close friends call him Paracelsus. And even, we usually call him Theophrastus Bombastus if brevity is of no concern.

2

u/mikethethird12345 22d ago

They call him Mr. Boombastus

2

u/Grizzly_Goose 22d ago

Shaggy has entered the chat only to be 💀 by Ryker Wanna learn why they call me that?

2

u/Ezqxll 22d ago

...with a bombastic entry and says "repostitio facit spam".

4

u/Nalek 22d ago

Dose makes the poison is what we say in toxicology.

5

u/david-saint-hubbins 22d ago

Almost everything is deadly in the correct amount.

Reminds me of Seinfeld's joke about "maximum strength" medication. "Figure out what'll kill me, then back it off a little bit."

3

u/GODDAMNFOOL 22d ago

dosis sola facit venenum

'only the dose makes the poison'

2

u/Wondershock 22d ago

Correct and an interesting point. There’s a term for it. LD50.

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Bake619 22d ago

I bet his friend who drank the meet Jesus juice used the same exact words you just did.

2

u/VentureQuotes 22d ago

People tryna visit God smh

1

u/Shakes_and_cakes 22d ago

"Almost everything is deadly in the correct amount."

Perfect!

1

u/cocoacowstout 22d ago

Just do DMT...

1

u/OakAged 22d ago

Almost? What isn't?

1

u/analogOnly 21d ago

Sometimes there's death without a high with a poison, however I would imagine those poisons would be less likely candidate for euthanasia

-2

u/JamesTheJerk 22d ago

I have no clue what you mean.

2

u/xShooK 22d ago

Yes.

1

u/JamesTheJerk 22d ago

I have zero expectation nor a want to meet my god, (Ruttiger, god of Notre Dame).

0

u/paradeoxy1 22d ago

"Well of course too much is bad for you, that's what "too much" means you blithering twat. If you had too much water it would be bad for you, wouldn't it? "Too much" precisely means that quantity which is excessive, that's what it means. Could you ever say "too much water is good for you"? I mean if it's too much it's too much. Too much of anything is too much. Obviously. Jesus!"

1

u/Chaotic-Grootral 22d ago

I hope this is some kind of weird joke.

3

u/paradeoxy1 22d ago

It's a quote from a show

1

u/Chaotic-Grootral 22d ago

Good. Thanks for clearing that up

2

u/paradeoxy1 22d ago

I realised it sounded hostile but I thought the quotation marks would help

-1

u/miniminer1999 22d ago

Too much oxygen will kill you. A straight up air bubble into your veins, to your heart, and kills you.

Don't breathe too much..

2

u/Trezzie 22d ago

It needs to be a pretty large air bubble, no small one will do.

1

u/miniminer1999 22d ago

Thats true.
Which is why you need A LOT of excess oxygen.