assisted suicide to be shown on tv the AA grumpy column

[pantoandy]

good morning

grumps here im home alone today so i thought i,d pop in to the FG see whats happening and leave a story.

what do you think to assisted sucicide in switzerland ?

this is a programme not to miss tonight on sky

THE dramatic moment when a man is helped to end his own life is being shown for the first time on British TV tonight.

Craig Ewert chose to die to escape what he called the “living tomb” which his body had become after he developed motor neurone disease.

The retired university professor and father of two was struck down by the illness at 59.

Within five months it had left him unable even to breathe unaided, so he paid £3,000 for an assisted suicide with the Swiss-based Dignitas euthanasia organisation.

Film cameras followed him during his final days in a Dignitas-owned apartment in Zurich.

The resulting documentary — Right To Die? — shows him passing away with Mary, his wife of 37 years, at his side.

Moments before he dies, she asks him: “Can I give you a kiss?”

Craig replies: “Of course” and Mary adds: “I love you.”

Craig says: “I love you, sweetheart, so much.”

Mary then tells him: “Have a safe journey, I will see you some time.”

In law, Dignitas can only assist suicide and cannot carry out the final act. So, with his body barely functioning, Craig is given a timer to bite on which turns off his ventilator.

Retired social worker Arthur Bernard, who has acted as an “escort” in more than 100 assisted suicides for Dignitas, also mixes a lethal dose of barbiturate and pours it into a glass.

He says: “Mr Ewert, if you drink this you are going to die.”

Craig drinks through a pink straw, then says: “Give me some apple juice. Please can I have some music?”

Moments before his eyes close for the final time he says: “Thank you.” His wife then says: “Safe journey. Have a good sleep.”

After 45 minutes he is pronounced dead.

The deeply moving documentary, which is being broadcast tonight at 9pm on Sky Real Lives, tells Craig’s story after his retirement when he and Mary moved from the US to Harrogate, North Yorks.

When he was diagnosed with MND in April 2006, he was told he had up to five years to live but the disease developed rapidly and after only five months he was wheelchair-bound and totally dependent on his wife.

He needed a ventilator to help him breathe and was fed through a tube in his stomach.

Facing total paralysis and a life of hell, Craig decided to pay Dignitas to organise his assisted suicide, his cremation and the return of his ashes to the UK.

The documentary shows him and Mary — who has returned to live in the US since his death — talking about the reasons for his choice.

Craig says: “I am tired of the disease but I am not tired of living. I still enjoy life enough that I would like to continue but the thing is that I really cannot.

If I opt for life then that is choosing to be tortured rather than end this journey and start the next one. I cannot take the risk.

“Let’s face it, when you’re completely paralysed and cannot talk, how do you let somebody know you are suffering? This could be a complete and utter hell.

“You can watch only so much of yourself drain away before you look at what is left and say, ‘This is an empty shell’.

“Once I become completely paralysed then I am nothing more than a living tomb that takes in nutrients through a tube in the stomach — it’s painful.”

In one scene from the programme, filmed three days before his death in September 2006, Craig tells how he has chosen euthanasia to avoid unnecessary suffering to himself and his family.

He says: “By this point I have two choices — either actually go through with it or say, ‘I am too scared right now and I do not want to do it’.

“If I do not go through with it then my choice is to suffer and to enforce suffering on my family and then die in a way that is considerably more stressful and painful.

I have death or I have suffering and death. This way makes a whole lot of sense to me.”

He adds: “I have had a pretty good run. I think I can take my bow and say, ‘Thanks, it has been fun, I would do it again’. ”

Craig’s children, Katrina, 33, and Ivan, 35, visited him in Britain after his diagnosis but he could not face having them at his death.

He says: “I figured that maybe they have the same feeling that it would be easier for them and for me if they were not here.

“If they were here then I would be talking to them and I anticipate that it would be more difficult for me to go through with it.”

After his death, Katrina said: “I really did not want to have to make the decision of whether I was going to be there or not.

“Part of me would have liked to have been there and part of me thought it was going to be really hard. My dad was a great guy and I love him very much. I will miss him.

“All through life he was a great example to me and even in his death he was just so true to himself.”

Ivan added: “He understood and he knew how fiercely I loved him and still do and how proud I am of him and how proud I was to be a member of his family.”

The documentary includes an extract from a heart-rending letter which Craig wrote to his children just before he died.

He tells them: “I am dying. There is no sense in my trying to deny that fact. I truly expect that death is the end, that there is no everlasting soul, no afterlife. This is a journey I must make.

“At the same time I hope this is not the cause of major distress to my dear, sweet wife who will have the greatest loss as we have been together for 37 years in the greatest intimacy.

“Feel free to speak to me at any time. I may not answer — but then I was always more of an ear than a mouth.”

Euthanasia has been decriminalised in Switzerland, the Netherlands and Belgium but as the law stands in the UK, deliberate or “active” euthanasia will leave anyone assisting a suicide liable to a murder charge.

Last month multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy lost her High Court battle to clarify UK law on assisted suicide.

Debbie, 45, from Bradford, West Yorks, feared her husband Omar would be prosecuted in the UK if he travelled with her to Switzerland when she took her own life with Dignitas.

However, two senior judges ruled that the current guidelines were adequate and refused to clarify them.

Dignitas has helped more than 700 people from 25 countries to die since it was formed in 1999.

That figure includes an estimated 100 Britons, most of whom remain anonymous.

Switzerland is the only country in the world where assisted suicide is legal for non-residents and under law the individual has to take the fatal dose themselves.

‘ If I opt for life, I am choosing to be tortured ... it could be hell ’

John Beyer, of TV watchdog Mediawatch-UK, says: “This is quite an important political issue at the moment and my anxieties are that the programme will influence public opinion.

“Documentary makers produce all manner of programmes and no one can stop that or intervene unless they fail to comply with the requirements of the Communications Act.

“If this programme is not impartial and promotes euthanasia then it would be in breach of the act — in short it must not influence members of the public or a change in the law. Broadcasters must always remain impartial otherwise they could influence the public or other sufferers into making a similar action — that’s my anxiety.”

John Zaritsky, who directed and produced Right To Die?, says: “I want the film to be controversial and I want people to debate it strongly.

“I was looking for somebody who fell into the ‘grey zone’, somebody who wasn’t in the last phases of a terminal illness in terrible pain. I thought that would make it too easy for the audience and I wanted somebody like Craig who could have lived for another year or two.

“He would have had a miserable time doing so but still had the choice and decided rather than becoming completely paralysed he would end his life.”

In the programme, Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli says: “If somebody tells you, ‘I’ve had enough of this awful life and I’d like to go now,’ we should have the opportunity to help them.

“We all know suicide happens and when you are saying it should not, you make a taboo of suicide.

“We should change the starting point of suicide prevention and say suicide is a marvellous possibility for a human being to restore themselves from a situation which is unbearable.”

But Dr Rachel Pickering, of the Care Not Killing Alliance, says: “We work to promote palliative care while opposing any change in the law to legalise euthanasia or assisted suicide.

“We believe a change in the law to legalise assisted dying is not compatible with good palliative care and would be detrimental to society as a whole.”

Man's suicide death to be shown on TV | The Sun |News



AAG

you,ve got to hand it to the europeans the swiss have got it right when it comes to something like this.

it is a shame that this gentleman had to pay 3k flights etc to be released from his pain.

if an animal was suffering the vet would give it an injection and put it out of its misery so why not do this with a person?

there could be euthanasia units set up in hospitals where the doctor could make up the leathal dose and give it to the individual who then takes it and dies.

but unfortunatly our government hasnt got the balls to tackle this this subject.

it also opens up a whole new can of worms as to is the doctor going against the hippocratic oath in assisting a suicide and what sort of law can charge a spouse with murder for assisting a terminally ill patient to die.

YOU ARE FREE FROM YOUR PAIN NOW CRAIG REST IN PEACE.

AAG

[Carolly]

And many out there may shout out and not agree with you here but I watched my mother go through hell before she died and can still hear her screams and also someone very close to me watched a much loved one suffer so .....well I for one say I totally agree with the above and if my fate is ever to suffer so.... yes I would indeed like some help even though I would never ask as to leave a loved one with the worry of them getting into trouble for me I would just hate.

[Carolly]

jimbo;1082435 wrote: i saw my father in law and my mother both die horrible deaths from cancer both begged to be put out of their misery





we would not let an animal suffer so



then why do is it ok for our loved ones Im gong to be totally honest here. When I sat down here hearing my mothers screams my husband was attending her and my thoughts were.........fgs dont sufficate her out of kindness.Its a complicated story but basically the doctor was a git and because of that oh boy did she suffer.I had to call a Hospice Doctor out in the end and he went in the bedroom as she was taking her last breath.Its an experience that I will never forget and I will never forget some words she said near the end......all those wasted years.....and yes we did have many of those the pair of us but maybe also a lesson to be learnt of such words.Back to the OP though and how I wished I could have legally helped her from such pain on her way to the next world.Still the smile on her face at time of death told me that at last she was free.

[pantoandy]

my mate SID has been the victim of ID theft.... we just call him S now :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

please be serious jimbo not on this column thanks mate

[Carolly]

pantoandy;1082574 wrote: my mate SID has been the victim of ID theft.... we just call him S now :yh_rotfl:yh_rotfl

please be serious jimbo not on this column thanks mateI understand what you are saying and totally agree with you on this but you have to remember it is in Jims siggy and he cant keep changing it every time he does a post.Jim was being very respectful and honest in his post back to you and knowing him as I do he was not being funny in anyway......just his siggy that didnt go with the subject.

[Carolly]

jimbo;1082595 wrote: thanks whelk



even i would have trouble trying to joke ,in a post where i said about my mother and father in law dying of cancer begging to be released from the pain





vvvvvvvvvv ignore sig please
You dont have to thank me mate as we both know watching our loved ones die in pain is no joke.

[CARLA]

Suffering is awful to watch in any fashion. When its someone we love it is unbearable. We don't let our pets suffer if they are gravely ill and will die suffering. Why should we allow our loved ones suffer to the bitter end. :-1 Cruel and ugly way to treat each other.

I don't agree with the women who wants to die with her husband who is perfectly healthy that's not what assisted suicide should be for. Just my opinion anyway.

It reality only the very wealthy can do this now. The rest of us will have to suffer in many cases a ugly death. I guess there are no guarantee's in life but in this age of medical advances why let us suffer to the bitter end? Help us to die without pain and dignity by assisting or death or relieving our pain totally.

[Carolly]

CARLA;1082625 wrote: Suffering is awful to watch in any fashion. When its someone we love it is unbearable. We don't let our pets suffer if they are gravely ill and will die suffering. Why should we allow our loved ones suffer to the bitter end. :-1 Cruel and ugly way to treat each other.

I don't agree with the women who wants to die with her husband who is perfectly healthy that's not what assisted suicide should be for. Just my opinion anyway.

It reality only the very wealthy can do this now. The rest of us will have to suffer in many cases a ugly death. I guess there are no guarantee's in life but in this age of medical advances why let us suffer to the bitter end? Help us to die without pain and dignity by assisting or death or relieving our pain totally. :(Wise words from a wise lady.

[mikeinie]

I have no personal problem with someone suffering choosing how they want to go with dignity. However, I have a real problem when watching someone die becomes television entertainment.

I think it is feck’n sick putting this on TV and I for one will not be watching it.

[pantoandy]

ok have sent a pm to jimbo

[Carolly]

pantoandy;1082687 wrote: ok have sent a pm to jimboThats very decent of you but im sure he understands and feels just as bad;)

[Oscar Namechange]

mikeinie;1082666 wrote: I have no personal problem with someone suffering choosing how they want to go with dignity. However, I have a real problem when watching someone die becomes television entertainment.

I think it is feck’n sick putting this on TV and I for one will not be watching it.


I find this all rather an emotive subject having seen both my parents and sister die.

I have to agree with Mike. This is just not something for television entertainment. We can argue that his wife wants to show the world of his suffering but the truth is, there are a lot of wierdo's out there who will tune in just to watch a man take his last breaths. It is sensationalised tv when the death of a loved one should be with family and in private.

My father was terribly 'British' WW11 pilot 'stiff upper lip' etc etc. He never complained and we never knew how much he was truely suffering. The day he died, he shoo'd us all out of the hospice and went alone. That was his last wish, he did not want a spectacle as he called it.

I only had a notion of his suffering when after he had died, my mother revealed a note he had written for me that she never passed on. My father was a man of few words so it was a brief note asking me to get his morphine and put him out of the misery. He added that he was asking me because i was the only one who would have the guts to do it and stand by my convictions. I've never known if that was a compliment.

As i said, he was a man of few words. The loss of his father in the Trenches on the Somme when he was 9 yrs old followed by the death of his mother a year later helped but what he saw in the war finally silenced him.

After he died, mother found an envelope, inside was a photograph of him as a young man in the war time in RAF uniform and a short letter.

It read 'To my wonderful wife and children. Please forgive me for all the things i said when i should not have said them. Please forgive me for all the things i should have said when i did not'. :-1

These are private moments only to be shared with friends, not shown on tv.

[Carolly]

jimbo;1082785 wrote: thanks PA



and i have replied :)



no harm done thats how growns up handle these things :-6





there ladies a lesson for you lot to learn ..... the drama queens ;)Yes and im so pleased to have been a part of sorting it out seeing im a lady:sneaky::rolleyes:

[abbey]

I wont be watching it, I cried just reading Andy's OP.

[OpenMind]

oscar;1082776 wrote: I find this all rather an emotive subject having seen both my parents and sister die.

I have to agree with Mike. This is just not something for television entertainment. We can argue that his wife wants to show the world of his suffering but the truth is, there are a lot of wierdo's out there who will tune in just to watch a man take his last breaths. It is sensationalised tv when the death of a loved one should be with family and in private.

My father was terribly 'British' WW11 pilot 'stiff upper lip' etc etc. He never complained and we never knew how much he was truely suffering. The day he died, he shoo'd us all out of the hospice and went alone. That was his last wish, he did not want a spectacle as he called it.

I only had a notion of his suffering when after he had died, my mother revealed a note he had written for me that she never passed on. My father was a man of few words so it was a brief note asking me to get his morphine and put him out of the misery. He added that he was asking me because i was the only one who would have the guts to do it and stand by my convictions. I've never known if that was a compliment.

As i said, he was a man of few words. The loss of his father in the Trenches on the Somme when he was 9 yrs old followed by the death of his mother a year later helped but what he saw in the war finally silenced him.

After he died, mother found an envelope, inside was a photograph of him as a young man in the war time in RAF uniform and a short letter.

It read 'To my wonderful wife and children. Please forgive me for all the things i said when i should not have said them. Please forgive me for all the things i should have said when i did not'. :-1

These are private moments only to be shared with friends, not shown on tv.


If those watching it see it as entertainment, then I pity them. I am sure the programme is not aimed at them. It is a documentary and permission has been granted by the people taking part to be included in it. I am sure there will be more people who will view it as mature adults. The idea is to provoke a public response to euthanasia.

[Oscar Namechange]

OpenMind;1082917 wrote: If those watching it see it as entertainment, then I pity them. I am sure the programme is not aimed at them. It is a documentary and permission has been granted by the people taking part to be included in it. I am sure there will be more people who will view it as mature adults. The idea is to provoke a public response to euthanasia.


For me, it would be too much. seeing him would remind me of my parents and sister

[OpenMind]

oscar;1082920 wrote: For me, it would be too much. seeing him would remind me of my parents and sister


I can understand that. It's been a long time since my parents passed on but they are still fresh in my heart and my mind.:-4

[Oscar Namechange]

OpenMind;1082929 wrote: I can understand that. It's been a long time since my parents passed on but they are still fresh in my heart and my mind.:-4


Quite I find christmas so hard.

[Carolly]

OpenMind;1082929 wrote: I can understand that. It's been a long time since my parents passed on but they are still fresh in my heart and my mind.:-4Isnt that the truth.....and always will be.

[CARLA]

I agree watching someone die isn't for me either. I agree with the concept of assisted death. Having it on the TV for all to observer not necessary. But then again this man may have agreed to it for a fee to be left to his loved ones.

I wouldn't ever turn the TV on for such a show. :-1 Death is a personal and private matter between those closest to the person.

[mikeinie]

OpenMind;1082917 wrote: If those watching it see it as entertainment, then I pity them. I am sure the programme is not aimed at them. It is a documentary and permission has been granted by the people taking part to be included in it. I am sure there will be more people who will view it as mature adults. The idea is to provoke a public response to euthanasia.


That is Bullsh1t.

If you are against capital punishment is showing executions a way to raise awareness?

How about to raise money for cancer we start televising people dying of different cancer types?

This is just sick sick TV and should not be allowed. It is a new low.

[Oscar Namechange]

mikeinie;1083045 wrote: That is Bullsh1t.

If you are against capital punishment is showing executions a way to raise awareness?

How about to raise money for cancer we start televising people dying of different cancer types?

This is just sick sick TV and should not be allowed. It is a new low.


I can only agree.

If everything is televised we end up ultimately a de-sensitised world...It become's the norm. Nothing would be private, personal, dignified and morally right.

I hate to be the cynic here but is it just me who's wondering if money changed hands?? :(:(

[Oscar Namechange]

Barman;1083057 wrote: Hit the nail on the head there Oscar, that dirty word money.


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