TV Channel To Broadcast Assisted Suicide
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008
British TV channel was scheduled to air a controversial documentary Wednesday night showing a terminally ill man committing assisted suicide.
The film follows retired university professor Craig Ewert during the last four days of his life in 2006, when he visited a Swiss clinic with his wife, Mary, in order to die.
The 59-year-old suffered from motor neurone disease (MND), which deprived him of the use of his arms and legs and caused him to be on a ventilator, Mary Ewert told The Independent.
MND destroys the body’s motor nerves, eventually resulting in paralysis. Most sufferers die within five years of diagnosis although scientist Stephen Hawking has survived with the disease for more than 40 years.
“Right to Die: The Suicide Tourist” shows Ewert lying in a rented Zurich apartment, where an employee of the clinic prepares a lethal dose of drugs for Ewert to drink. As the camera rolls, and with his wife by his side, Craig Ewert then closes his eyes and dies.
Mary Ewert said her husband wanted his death to be filmed in order to show that a terminal illness does not have to result in a painful death.
Source: CNN
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