Many people have been upset by the alarmist (and very unrealistic) portrayal of an assisted suicide of someone with unbearable and unrelievable suffering in a recent episode of the TV soap, Emmerdale. Terry Pratchett puts the record straight tomorrow night at 9pm (BBC2) with a documentary showing the death of someone by assisted suicide at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland. In contrast to the sometimes highly dramatic suicides of emotionally disturbed persons, a rational suicide is often a fulfilling and bonding experience for everyone, safe in the knowledge that the person concerned has made a careful, unemotive decision about how to draw life to a dignified close. Essential viewing!
Links:
Radio Times
Pratchett’s own plans for dignified dying (Guardian)
BBC story
BBC replies to criticism over including the death scene
Interview (EyeForFilm)
Premiere (review from EyeForFilm)
Response from Margo MacDonald
The EXIT euthanasia blog 
I think that’s one of the most moving programmes I’ve watched.
LikeLike