Greek Journalist Chooses Non-Assisted Euthanasia After Battle With

Cancer

Greek journalist Alexandros Velios put an end to his life with non-assisted euthanasia after a
battle with cancer, leaving a suicide note on his social media page.

Earlier this summer, Velios stated publicly that he only has a few months to live and wrote a
book about his personal battle with cancer, titled My Death and I The Right to Euthanasia.
The writer said that while writing the book he decided to die with dignity by seeking euthanasia
in Switzerland, where it is legal.

The problem with euthanasia is that it continues to be a taboo subject, he said. I am a

supporter and advocate of the right to our own death. I consider that the right to death is one of
the fundamental human rights. Velios had made all the arrangements to go to Switzerland to
seek euthanasia.

However, on Sunday evening the journalist put an end to his life in his home in Gerakas, a suburb
of Athens, after posting a suicide note in his facebook page.

In the video posted on facebook shortly before his death, Velios reads a handwritten note titled
My Goodbye, explaining the reasons that led him to end his life.

My last hospitalization confirmed the rapid deterioration of my health. It is now a matter of a

few weeks. Rethinking my experience and faced with my physical and mental deterioration, I
decided to come face to face with myself and decide on an end that befits me. To leave in peace
and in full consciousness. I lived with dignity, and with dignity I chose to die, he says, among
other things.

The journalist also apologized to his relatives and says that, I lived a creative life and, overall,
did not make compromises. I leave this world complete.

His funeral will take place Tuesday, September 6, at 3 p.m. in the First Cemetery of Athens, with
a service at Saint Theodore Church.