A few years ago a documentary was made of the last few days of Craig Ewert' s life. He decided to use the services of Dignitas after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrigs Disease.
Mr Ewert was a retired University professor from the United States. Craig and his wife of 37 years was living in the UK at the time of his diagnosis. His upper extremities and breathing was affected.
ALS is a terminal illness that affects people differently. The muscles affected and rate of the atrophy varies from person to person .The patient normally dies 2-5 years after diagnosis. There is no cure. The neurons that send messages from the brain to the muscles stop transmitting causing the muscles to die, eventually leaving the person unable to move on own, eat, breathe and communicate but the brain's intact. Mr Ewert knew this. He made a choice to travel to Switzerland (Dignitas) to end his life while he was still able to swallow the barbiturate called Nembutal.
Suicide is legal in the UK but assisting is not. His wife could of faced imprisonment for helping him go to Switzerland.
What are your thoughts on this?
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