Renowned NYC musician dies of assisted suicide in Switzerland after ending his life
A renowned cross-genre drummer who has played with musicians from Michael Stipe to Herbie Hancock died by assisted suicide in Switzerland after ‘completing his life’.
Anton Fier, 66, traveled to Basel, Switzerland, where he died by assisted suicide on September 14 at the Pegasos Clinic, according to a cremation notice.
Exit International Director Philip Nitschke explains The Independent that Fier was not suffering from a terminal illness but wanted to die on his own terms after feeling he had achieved everything he could in life.
dr Nitschke said Fier joined Exit, which counsels people over 50 who want to end their lives, in April 2022 and was active on the group’s online forum Peaceful Pills.
Fier suffered from arthritis and back pain from decades of drumming and carrying heavy equipment, Dr. Nitschke.
Shared in a letter The Independent, Nier wrote: “I feel like I’ve done all I can do in this life. I was never interested in being an old man physically unable to do what I love and have done for a living.”
“My father died at 42 and my mother at 52. I never expected or prepared to live this long and had no example of how to do it right.”
Fier had also alluded to an unhappy childhood and how discovering music had changed his life.
dr Nitchske said there was no evidence that Nier had attempted any other suicide and that he chose the “Swiss option” rather than the other commonly used DIY strategies.
Through online tributes and articles marking his death, friends and musical collaborators painted a portrait of a highly influential and complex musician who had fallen on difficult times.
The New York Times reported that Fier was struggling financially and was unable to play drums to his own high standards after injuring his wrists.
“He had a lot of pressure and a lot of anxiety,” said friend and singer-songwriter Lianne Smith the times. “But when he made music, he was a whole person.”
Born in Cleveland, Fier became a key figure on the New York music scene in the 1970s and 1980s.
He joined the influential rock group The Feelies in 1978 and formed the supergroup Golden Palominos in the 1980s, which became the one constant in an ever-changing lineup of musicians that included guest appearances from REM frontman Michael Stipe and former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon exhibited.
Fier also played with experimental jazz band The Lounge Lizards and toured and recorded with legendary pianist Herbie Hancock throughout the ’80s.
The Feelies paid tribute to her former bandmate in a Facebook post.
“As a musician, Anton held himself to a very high standard, which in turn inspired those around him to be better,” the band wrote. “We’ve all lost a wonderful musician, a really great drummer. And peace has found him.”
His former fiancé and singer-songwriter Lori Carson wrote in a blog post that Fier was full of “contradictions”.
“It makes me sad to know that you are no longer here. But I don’t begrudge you your exit, and I understand it. What was the meaning of life without music?” she wrote.
told friends the times that Fier had become a recluse in his final years, seeking ways to end his life after being “haunted by creditors”.
Physician-assisted suicide is legal in 10 US states and Washington DC, and more than a dozen other states are considering legislation, but only for patients with terminal illnesses.
The debate over assisted suicide was reignited after the February deaths of Arizona sisters Lila Ammouri, a palliative care physician, and Susan Frazier.
The sisters traveled to Basel, Switzerland without telling their colleagues or their brother and each paid $11,000 to die from an intravenous injection of Nembutal.
They have suffered from medical “frustrations” such as dizziness and back pain and have become “suicidal,” according to Dr. Nitschke The Independent.
The issue is often hotly contested between right-to-die organizations and opponents, who say the laws are open to the exploitation of vulnerable citizens who may have a disability.
Fier would not have met the eligibility requirements for assisted suicide in the United States.
dr Nitschke has previously said The Independent that Swiss laws giving mentally able adults over the age of 18 the right to choose death should be adopted as a legislative model in other jurisdictions.
“Under California law, you can suffer terribly, but if you don’t die in six months, that’s not an option.”
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