Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die

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This programme contains scenes which

some viewers may find upsetting.

Oh, good. All the best here! It's

like being at the Ritz, isn't it?

Right, can I just change

what I say a little bit?

OK?

My name is Terry Pratchett, and I

write fantasy novels for a living.

I am 62

and I was diagnosed

with Alzheimer's

three years ago.

Sometimes, particularly

when I'm depressed,

I dread

what the future may hold.

And it occurred to me

that, in these modern times,

one shouldn't have

to fear that sort of thing.

I am talking about assisted dying,

which is currently not legal

in this country.

What you are about to watch...

..may not be easy,

but I believe it's important.

The people I will meet

in this film are all, like me,

considering how they will die.

Is it possible for someone like me,

or like you,

to arrange for themselves

the death that they want?

'Life with Alzheimer's,

at the moment,

'is full of small

but embarrassing inconveniences.

'I will forget your name almost

as soon as you've told it to me,'

because there is something wrong

with my short-term memory,

and I'm not going to make a joke

about that.

'A few years ago,

I stopped being able to type.

'Now I rely on my assistant, Rob,

'who takes dictation from me.'

..reached the undergrowth

at the edge of the dockyard...

Until THEY reached

the undergrowth. OK.

I'm very nearly finishing

the first draft of a book.

I think it's the 38th Discworld

novel. Is it?! Yeah. Bloody hell.

Was it any good? I think...

It's called Snuff. Which is snuff,

you know, the old...

In fact, I think

I've got some over there.

'But I know that the time will

come when words will fail me.

'When I can no longer

write my books,

'I'm not sure that I will want

to go on living.'

..I will stop the fight

when I deem that one man

has definitely had enough.

I want to enjoy life

for as long as I can squeeze

the juice out of it,

and then...I'd like to die.

But I don't quite know how,

and I'm not quite sure when.

There are plenty of people

in this country

who are against assisted dying,

for religious, moral

or even just practical reasons.

They fear

that we may open the floodgates

to widespread and uncontrollable

killing of the vulnerable.

'How do you guarantee

sincere consent?'

And what happens

to those who are left behind?

It's a delicate subject,

but my Alzheimer's means

that I'd like,

at least, to explore the options.

'I want to find out what it would

be like to be helped to die.'

SAT NAV:
'At 1-8 mile,

you have reached your destination.'

I began by going to meet a man

who has motor neurone disease,

a terminal illness.

'Turn right.'

He had been in contact

with Dignitas,

an organisation in Switzerland

which, for a fee,

will help you to die.

Hello! Hello. Good morning!

Terry Pratchett. Christine Smedley.

Come in. Thank you.

This is my husband, Peter Smedley.

Ah, Mr Pratchett. How do you do?

I'm delighted to meet you.

Excuse me not...standing up.

No, will you excuse me if I sit

down? I'd be delighted.

Would you like a cup of tea?

A cup of tea would be very nice.

I have motor neurone disease

and I thought I would barely make

my birthday in January this year,

but... Right.

The course of the disease

is most unattractive.

And the fact

that there was no...

there was no treatment

for it. Right.

My condition has deteriorated

to a point

where I feel

I need to go fairly shortly. Mm-hm.

So you almost immediately

contacted Dignitas? Yes.

This is not an affliction that one

wants to see through to the end.

No, indeed.

It's a beastly,

undignified business, and...

..I look on Dignitas

as a...as a way out, really,

to assist me,

to be free of this affliction.

I feel, if I...

can fly free of it,

that pleases me.

I can't make any major

decision without my wife.

What do you think

about your husband's determination?

We do discuss things,

but if I don't agree,

that doesn't mean to say

that he won't do things.

In theory, at least, you're putting

yourself and your wife

in some risk.

That's the last thing I want.

I've decided

that I will not make a decision

until I'm in Switzerland,

which is entirely outside

the jurisdiction of this island.

The solicitor said,

"If Mrs Smedley accompanies you,

"it will be against the law,

and Mrs Smedley can go to

jail for 14 years."

So Peter wrote back and said,

"If it is deemed in the interests

of society,

"I'm sure Mrs Smedley

will be pleased to do her time."

TERRY LAUGHS:

Well, the whole thing

is so ridiculous.

I spent 11 weeks sitting

with my mother in intensive care

in a Sussex hospital, and she kept

looking at me and doing this.

And that had

a very profound effect on me.

I wouldn't put my dog or my cat

through...

an unpleasant, undignified ending,

and I don't want

that locked-in feeling for him,

so I'm quite supportive, really.

I think it's a better...better way

than eking it out to the end.

The thing that actually

worries me about Dignitas...

it is a kind of one-stop shop.

You go in, as it were,

and you come out in an urn. Yes.

That does not sound right.

There is something distasteful

about this.

It sounds like machinery. It does.

And that's one step away

from using the word Nazi... Yes...

..which I'm not using about

Dignitas.

And the fact that they're German...

Probably one shouldn't say that.

Well, they're Swiss, actually.

They're Swiss German.

But when you talk to them,

it's slightly Teutonic!

LAUGHTER:

Right.

Are you ready to come for a tour?

Ooh, yes. Wander round.

What was the family business?

Canning. Smedley's.

We canned everything.

Fruit, vegetables, peas.

We were the first...

You were Smedley's? Yes.

Like Smedley's Peas?

We are Smedley's Peas, yes.

Yes. I must have eaten

an awful lot of Smedley's Peas.

Yes, that's my husband's car.

He had a model made.

When I first met Peter,

he was driving this.

And he'd had aeroplanes in Rhodesia,

which is where I come from.

And my father had had airplanes

in Rhodesia,

so we suddenly had an

awful lot to talk about.

And he said,

"Would you like to drive it?"

So I said, "I would -

that would be fun."

That was not a car for driving -

that was a car for owning.

It was a car for pulling birds,

I think!

It clearly worked! And I think

he was quite successful at it!

'You walk around the house,

and things gleam and shine,

'marvellous things

collected over the years,

'and a wine cellar

that I would kill for,

'and you think, you know,

"They've got it all." '

You're up. Let me get you on the go

and then I'll take...

'You can meet Peter and think,

"Well, you're struggling a bit,

but you've obviously got money,

' "so why would you think

of assisted dying?" '

Oh, sorry.

I'll take you to the wall.

Lovely. Rather large.

They're generous in their portions.

They are.

I did fall over a week or two,

a few weeks ago,

and I found I couldn't

even get off the floor.

I'm looking for that point

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