Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die

Sun 23 Sep 2012, 9:30pm

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In this frank, personal documentary, author Sir Terry Pratchett considers ending his life before Alzheimer's disease overtakes him.

At a clinic in Switzerland, Pratchett meets millionaire hotelier Peter Smedley, who was diagnosed with a motor neuron disease in 2008. Pratchett also visits the widow of a Belgian writer Hugo Claus, who decided to commit suicide in 2008 after developing Alzheimer's disease, and speaks with a retired London taxi driver with a motor neuron disease, a 42-year-old multiple sclerosis sufferer, and the founder of Dignitas, a Swiss organisation that assists suicides. Finally, Pratchett witnesses the death of Smedley with Smedley's wife and staffers from Dignitas in attendance.