My Friend Will Die

Lecture by Freja Polonius on active euthanasia, drawing on her personal experience as a friend and witness.

For a year, Freja Polonius followed her friend Preben, who after an accident was paralyzed from the neck down and wished to end his life. In 2022, Preben participated in the DR programme "On Tuesday I Will Die" with Anders Lund Madsen, which followed him in his final month before his planned assisted suicide. Freja was also in the programme and has since reflected on the role she and the TV crew played in Preben's ongoing wish to die.

She is the author of the book "My Friend Will Die" and co-author and subject editor of the 2025 anthology "Death by Prescription", which examines the consequences of a possible legalization of active euthanasia.

In the lecture, she poses questions such as: Can a law be legally correct but ethically wrong? How does the right to active euthanasia affect people in hopelessness or dependency? And how do we address the paradox that society must both prevent suicide and offer active euthanasia?

The lecture takes place at Biblioteket Hørup, Salen, Knøs' Gård 1, 6470 Sydals.