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.
February 21, 2010
February 18, 2010
Sir Terry Pratchett calls for euthanasia tribunals
The author Sir Terry Pratchett is calling for euthanasia tribunals to give sufferers from incurable diseases the right to medical help to end their lives.
Pratchett, author of the bestselling Discworld fantasy novels, was diagnosed two years ago with a rare form of early onset Alzheimer’s disease – a discovery he memorably described, when he broke the news on the Discworld News website, as “an embuggerance”.
In his lecture, Shaking Hands With Death, the author will volunteer to be a test case before a euthanasia tribunal himself.
February 16, 2010
Guardian Daily: Assisted suicide and the law
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?
- Presented by Jon Dennis and produced by Phil Maynard
- guardian.co.uk, Friday 29 January 2010 00.01 GMT
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.
February 14, 2010
WSJ on Dignitas
The Wall Street Journal has posted an article on Dignitas and the Swiss government’s recent concerns on suicide tourism. You can read the article here.