A reminder to all my friends and readers:
The Suicide Tourist, the film which documents my father Craig Ewert’s brave decision to access assisted suicide after contracting ALS / Lou Gehrig’s Disease, will be shown on PBS Frontline at 9 pm ET on Tuesday, March 2.
This is the first time a United States broadcaster has shown the courage to air the film, and marks an important event.
I hope you all will feel comfortable watching the film and asking me any questions you may have.
Best wishes.
Ivan
An edited version of The Suicide Tourist will be shown on PBS’ acclaimed program, Frontline, on March 2 at 9 PM. Check your local listings to confirm dates and times.
You can learn more from the press release at the Frontline Web site.
Our expert panel including Debbie Purdy, Baroness Finlay, Evan Harris MP and Baroness Warnock discusses the right to die. Should our loved ones be able to help us end our lives?
Earlier this month, Frances Inglis was jailed for nine years for murder after injecting her brain-damaged son Thomas, 22, with a lethal dose of heroin. Just days later, Kay Gilderdale pleaded guilty to assisting suicide but was acquitted of murdering her daughter Lynn, 31, an ME sufferer whom she’d given morphine. Legal affairs correspondent Afua Hirsch explains the difference between these two cases.
Arguing for a change in the law is Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis patient who successfully argued for the right to know whether her husband would be prosecuted if he accompanied her to the Swiss clinic Dignitas.
Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris also backs the right of terminally ill patients to end their lives.
Baroness Warnock is Britain’s leading expert on medical ethics. She’s a vocal supporter of euthanasia.
Opposing a change in the law is Baroness Finlay, who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dying Well.
Also against is David Morris, who has spinal muscular atrophy and chairs Independent Living Alternatives.
You can hear the debate at this link.
PBS Frontline will continue its history of offering thoughtful, insightful programming when it broadcasts the first North American viewing of The Suicide Tourist on Tuesday, March 2, at 9:00 pm. We believe that 9 PM is the nationwide time, ignoring time zones; but this is subject to change.
In order to fit the one-hour time slot, Frontline has edited the documentary, removing the portion of the documentary which follows the Coubmias family. As a result, the entire program will revolve around Craig Ewert’s courageous – and ultimately successful – quest to die with dignity and grace on his own terms.
You can learn more at the Frontline Web site. We will continue to report new developments as they are announced.
The Suicide Tourist will be broadcast for the first time on British television at 9 PM tonight, December 10, on Sky Real Lives.
The story has been reported on by CNN, the BBC, the Daily Mail and many others.
I want to thank everyone who has posted their very kind thoughts on various online outlets. I suspect we’ll be making more use of this site in the near future than we have done in the past several months.
Best,
Ivan Ewert
How far would you go to die? Academy award winning director John Zaritsky joins Canadian radio talk show host John Gormley live to discuss the controversial issue of assisted suicide, the subject of his documentary ‘The Suicide Tourist.’
You can listen to the show here.
There’s an 11-minute clip on YouTube right now – an interview with John Zaritsky, director of The Suicide Tourist, from Canadian television show The Hour. It includes some footage from the film.
The clip begins with Craig Ewert’s preparation for the fatal dose of medicine – a powerful scene, so please be prepared if you intend to watch. I very much hope that the entire film will be viewable in the United States someday soon, but for right now, this may be your best exposure to The Suicide Tourist.
CTV in Canada will broadcast The Suicide Tourist on Saturday, October 24 at 7 P.M. EST.
To see details, visit CTV.ca.
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