Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die Page #5

---

I feel that it's going to be

tough on me

but I think it's going to be

a great relief for you.

She would like you to wait. Yes.

Yes, she would.

I mean, Peter's been my other half

for 40 years

and it's going to be

a terrible wrench. Yes.

Peter seemed to have

made his decision,

but the choices for me

are still uncertain.

'My Alzheimer's complicates matters.

'I decided to ask the doctor

'whether one day she would ever

be able to help me.'

Alzheimer's is not painful,

or at least it's described

like that, but it seems to me...

Not painful for your body,

extremely painful for your mind.

The big problem with Alzheimer's

is that you feel reasonably OK

up to a certain point,

and then there's a tipping point.

If you wait too long you are past

the point that you have a clear mind,

that you can make up your mind

and you must have a clear mind.

Right now my mind is like steel.

Yes, but with Alzheimer's

you can have quite clear moments

and very complicated moments.

This is a big, big...

I fully understand,

but supposing somebody says,

"Should I be where I'm not

in a position to make a decision,

"I nevertheless wish to take

whatever the killing draught is."

He won't be able

to take it himself, will he?

No, he would have to be given it.

You have to inject it.

And you think no doctor

would do that?

I wouldn't do it.

I give the poison to human being.

He takes it and he decides

whether he wants to take it or not.

It's something different to inject

it and he cannot say what he wants.

I think

I wouldn't be able to do that.

'The problem with Alzheimer's is

that by the time that you are ready

'to ask for an assisted death,

you may not be able to speak.

'And so the Alzheimer's patient

would have to choose'

to die...earlier

than might really be necessary.

'I realise that in many ways

my situation is just like Peter's.

'I asked Peter and Christine

'if I could accompany them on

the following day, and they agreed.'

I think I am going to see a man die.

At his own request.

Good morning, Terry.

May I have your bag?

'This is a pleasant place.

'They are pleasant people.'

But what's going on here

isn't exactly medicine.

A winter day, a Swiss winter day.

Everything looks lovely.

Can you manage?

Yes. I think so.

I'm just tired.

Lift your legs up here. Right, yes.

Thank you.

INAUDIBLE CHA:

Are you going to have tea

or coffee or anything?

I'm having coffee, darling.

Das heisst noch ein Tee.

Will er einen Kaffee?

Ja, ja, und einen Tee.

Sie will einen Kaffee?

Sie will einen Tee.

Peter, you don't mind

if I ask you several times -

are you sure you want to die today?

Yes, I'm sure. Yes, I'm sure.

Mmm-hmm. Yes.

I can't believe the calmness.

THEY CHUCKLE:

Peter's chatting away

as if this is a tea party.

I feel I have very little choice,

really, in the grand design.

Unfortunately we have papers to fill

out. Of course. Yes, I understand.

Maybe want one for you too?

I'm sorry for all this paperwork,

but it's necessary.

That's all right,

of course I understand.

That's fine,

it all makes perfect good sense.

OK.

Shall I take the initial...?

Don't ask me.

It's your decision, darling. Yes.

I'll take it. It's just the timing.

I'm quite prepared to do it now.

When you're ready.

Yes. Yes, yes.

So I shall go and prepare the drops?

Yes, please.

I'll be back in a minute.

Thank you, Erika. You're welcome.

Right.

Right.

Right. Thank you.

The drops for the stomach. Yes?

Yes.

Right? Taste OK too?

Yes, the taste is not bad.

No cup of tea or something to drink?

No. I've had my drink now.

That'll do me.

THEY LAUGH:

That was fairly innocuous,

I must say, that drink.

The next one is the...

The killer?

Oh, yes!

Take these with the pills.

Tell me which ones you like.

I don't think it will matter

a great deal. Praline?

The blues are always good.

This one here?

No, that one and that one.

Not the praline?

How long have we been here,

by the way?

I think you said

it was quarter past.

Ten minutes...it's 25. Oh.

Minutes past.

It's funny, strange how time

has different values

at different occasions.

Not that I'm in a hurry.

But I'm just...

Just interested to know

how long we've been...

Move my foot there, that's better.

Shall I be away? No.

No, I'd rather you...

Well, if you don't mind.

You shouldn't be away from him.

Well, if you really want to be away

from him. But, er...

No, I just didn't want to be

appearing to assist him.

No, I don't think

that would be the case.

Peter Lawrence Smedley,

are you sure that you want

to drink this medicament

with which

you will sleep

and die?

Yes, I'm quite sure

that's what I want to do.

I give you the medicament.

You're sure? I'm sure.

Thank you.

You can have chocolate now.

Oh. What a ghastly taste.

Worse than the one before this? Yes.

Well, yeah.

Bye-bye, Peter. Bye-bye, Erika.

Thank you for looking after me.

And I'd like to thank

everybody else.

They've been first class too.

Terry... Goodbye.

It's been a privilege.

My wife's very good at putting me

to sleep just by rubbing my hands.

Be strong, my darling. I will.

Just relax. Yup.

PETER GROANS:

Water.

No. No water.

No... Water...

STUTTERY COUGHING

SNORING:

He's sleeping now, very deep.

No pain at all.

He's snoring and sleeping very,

very deep. He feels unconsciousness,

and then afterwards

the breathing will stop,

and then the heart.

Are you all right, Terry?

I'm fine.

Well...for a given value of fine!

It's what he wanted.

He was ready to go. Yes.

Now you are allowed to cry.

Let it come out. It does you good.

Everything you kept inside until now,

let it out.

I don't think I can do that.

It's hard to believe

that I've seen a death.

I'm fine, yeah.

His wife is now bustling off

to organise something,

but I can totally understand why.

Can I say that I was extremely

impressed by how it was done.

I thought that was wonderful.

Thank you, Terry.

As for his wife,

makes me proud to be English.

LAUGHTER:

This has been a happy event.

We've seen a man die peacefully,

more or less

in the arms of his wife.

Quite quietly,

so that we never...

were actually certain

exactly when he passed away.

And when one thinks

of all the other ways

a person can die,

and in what circumstances,

that would count, as they say,

as a result.

In this time, in this place,

there's something good

about the snow.

Yeah. It's the right kind of snow.

I was in the presence of

the bravest man I'd ever met.

I'm not certain I could do that.

I'm not certain

that my hand wouldn't shake.

But then I'm not certain

what I would really do

if I was really there.

I want to stay around

as long as I can,

to see assisted dying

done properly in the UK.

Well, if I die...

I don't mean if I die!

When I die - and all men die -

I would like to die

out in the sunshine.

Hmm.

I suppose sometimes

the sun shines in Switzerland.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes