Choosing to die

It’s difficult to remain indifferent after watching the documentary ‘Choosing to die’, broadcasted on BBC last 13th of June. It’s not only because the issue attracts a great deal of discussion, but also because at the end of the documentary it’s shown Peter Smedley’s assisted suicide, a 71 years-old millionaire hotelier who was suffering from motor neurone disease.

Peter share with us the moment of his death and drinks the lethal substance that will make him sleep and, then, die. He swallows the poison with no doubt, his hand doesn’t shake. His last words after being asked by the nurse were “I’m sure”. Later, would come the goodbye for his death’s witnesses and a message for her wife: “be strong, dear”. The more awkward moment was just before he fell asleep, when he asked for and was denied water. Those seconds probably made his wife a lump in her throat, who cried after realizing that her husband was slipping and he wouldn’t wake up anymore.

That is how was the end chosen by Peter Smedley, who wasn’t a terminally-ill patient, but it was visible his lack of independence. Maybe it was the main reason that drove him to the Swiss clinic Dignitas in order to end his life, a decision which was made, according to his words, without being depressed, but with mixed feelings.

For 12 years, Dignitas has helped more than 1.000 people to die. The assisted suicides take place in a residency provided by the organization and under the supervision of the assistants, who prepare the drugs, give advice about how it must be drunk, provide psychological support and keep patients company in their last moments of life. Patients must drink the drug by themselves to die within the law. In Switzerland, law doesn’t punish or prosecute people who help others to die, providing that the person who wants to die is aware, repeatedly express their demand to die and consume the lethal drug by themselves.

The legal gap that allows assisted suicide in Switzerland encourages those who live in the United Kingdom -where it’s forbidden- to travel to that country in order to go to Dignitas and die “legally”. However, die within the law is not cheap at all: people who require the Dignitas help must pay more than £10,000. According to the organization, the money is needed to pay the forensic analysis and the expenses for the funeral.

Lack of legal rights

The BBC was flooded with complaints after it screened the documentary, and there were plenty of comments of condemnation pointing out that the film was “pro-assisted suicide propaganda loosely dressed up as a documentary ", as the spokesman for Care Not Killing, Alistair Thompson, said. In spite those critics, the main theme of the documentary doesn’t want to “glorify suicide”, but to condemn the lack of legal rights suffered by those who decide that their life is not worth to be lived anymore and, therefore, want to die.

The lawlessness in the United Kingdom in this issue is forcing these people to hire the expensive services of certain organizations and die in another country, far away from home, in an impersonal residence like that one chosen by Smedley, located in an industrial area near Zurich. The criticized documentary shows that Dignitas is not an ideal option, it would be fairer to have the chance of dying at home or in the particular way a person has chosen.

This is a reality that exists. The easiest is to look the other way, but the government should stop doing this and face up to this problem by working on the regulation.