TV Channel To Broadcast Assisted Suicide (England)

[OhioChick]

'Right to Die?' To Air Wednesday Night In England

POSTED: 11:49 am EST December 10, 2008
UPDATED: 12:23 pm EST December 10, 2008

A British television station is defending its plan to show a man's death at a Swiss suicide clinic.

Wednesday night's scheduled broadcast shows the 59-year-old American committing assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic in 2006. He had degenerative motor neuron disease.

The film is raising controversy in England, where assisted suicide is banned. Earlier programs had stopped short of showing the actual moment of death.

The Sky Real Lives channel said the film gives "an informative, articulate and educated insight" into the controversial issue. A member of the anti-euthanasia group Care Not Killing said the broadcast is a "cynical" effort to grab TV ratings.

Originally titled "The Suicide Tourist," the film is being called "Right to Die?" for its British broadcast. The documentary maker said it was important to counteract any claims that the death "was unpleasant or cruel or wasn't even done willingly."

http://www.newsnet5.com/health/18244861/detail.html