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I watched this just now on iplayer (it's available until Monday evening). He talks to a couple of people who have decided that they wish to be helped to kill themselves (and someone who has decided to die in a hospice); he (and his assistant) travel to Switzerland to meet one man the evening before he kills himself, and they attend the assisted suicide of the other. As you might expect, it's a powerful hour of film, and rather distressing at times. Sir Terry's assistant is visibly upset quite a bit.
To be fair to the program, it's not trying to be a balance documentary on assisted suicide; Sir Terry is clear that he thinks it should be legal in the UK, and most of the people he speaks to agree with him. The hospice worker is clearly less convinced, but we don't see much of her conversation. Nonetheless, I think even without having a full debate on assisted suicide, there were some important ethical issues which were mentioned in passing that warranted further exploration. Twenty-one percent[0] of people killing themselves at Dignitas (the clinic in Switzerland) were not terminally, but wanted to die because they were unhappy with their lives. It's not abundantly clear to me that someone who is physically healthy but suicidal needs a lethal dose of barbiturates, rather than their mental and spiritual health problems being addressed.
Another theme was the desire to end one's life before one became dependent on others, or "lost one's dignity" - several people talked about dignity. This line of thought obviously riled the hospice nurse, who clearly was of the view that her institution enabled those with terminal illnesses to die with dignity. I worry that there's some unexamined ableism here; the idea that if one is dependent on someone else for one's physical needs, one's life isn't worth living seems disturbing. What would Sir Terry say to someone whose disability means they struggle to communicate? I would have liked to see some consideration of whether people could be helped more to live, rather than being helped to die.
The aspect of this program that seems to have caused most controversy in the press was the decision to show the suicide of Peter Smedley. It struck me as relevant to the documentary, and sensitively filmed.
[0] this is the figure I remember being quoted in the film; ICBW
To be fair to the program, it's not trying to be a balance documentary on assisted suicide; Sir Terry is clear that he thinks it should be legal in the UK, and most of the people he speaks to agree with him. The hospice worker is clearly less convinced, but we don't see much of her conversation. Nonetheless, I think even without having a full debate on assisted suicide, there were some important ethical issues which were mentioned in passing that warranted further exploration. Twenty-one percent[0] of people killing themselves at Dignitas (the clinic in Switzerland) were not terminally, but wanted to die because they were unhappy with their lives. It's not abundantly clear to me that someone who is physically healthy but suicidal needs a lethal dose of barbiturates, rather than their mental and spiritual health problems being addressed.
Another theme was the desire to end one's life before one became dependent on others, or "lost one's dignity" - several people talked about dignity. This line of thought obviously riled the hospice nurse, who clearly was of the view that her institution enabled those with terminal illnesses to die with dignity. I worry that there's some unexamined ableism here; the idea that if one is dependent on someone else for one's physical needs, one's life isn't worth living seems disturbing. What would Sir Terry say to someone whose disability means they struggle to communicate? I would have liked to see some consideration of whether people could be helped more to live, rather than being helped to die.
The aspect of this program that seems to have caused most controversy in the press was the decision to show the suicide of Peter Smedley. It struck me as relevant to the documentary, and sensitively filmed.
[0] this is the figure I remember being quoted in the film; ICBW
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