A Short Stay in Switzerland

[di marco]

anyone else thinking of watching this tonight? i didnt even realise it was on til yesterday! its about a woman whos decided she wants to kill herself using assisted suicide in switzerland and how it affects her family. think it should be quite interesting

[Abbie]

I havent heard about it, what channel and time is it on?

[di marco]

I havent heard about it, what channel and time is it on?

bbc1 at 9pm

[Abbie]

I'll have to record it, Lost is on :D

[di marco]

I'll have to record it, Lost is on :D

lol! itll probably be on iplayer as well

[Abbie]

Oh yeah! saves me having to record it then :p

[Pinkbanana]

Soooo she wants to kill herself? She's not actually ill???

[Perdita]

They only give assistance in suicide if you are terminally ill, not just because you had enough of this world.

[di marco]

Soooo she wants to kill herself? She's not actually ill???

no she is ill! i think i forgot to add that bit lol! it said in the tv mag something like her husband died of some illness and then she gets something really similar to it and so would rather be killed than suffer, but not all her family support her decision

[Abigail]

Think I'll tune in for this. I'm not going to air my opinion on assisted suicide, but it would be good to see if from other people's perspectives. I hope this isn't going to all be one-sided and just go for the pro-assisted argument.

[Perdita]

I would not have thought so, as some of the family is against it, so the debate should be from both sides.

[Chloe O'brien]

I've just finished watching it. How sad was it Julie Walters was brilliant I was in tears. It should both sides of opinion on assisted suicide with her children giving their blessing eventually but her friend was against it.

I'm still undecided against assisted suicides being allowed in this country. I know you would never let animal suffer so how can we let loved ones suffer in pain but I don't think I could go through with watching a loved one take their own lives. I still belive no-one has the right to play God with lives and I pray that I never have to make that decision.

[Katy]

I'm going to try and watch it on iplayer if its on there as i missed it. I read somewhere that they had to film in really short pieces as it was so emotionally tiring on them and difficult to film due to the nature of the issue and of course it was a true story wasnt it.

[di marco]

i thought it was done really well, it was so sad, i was actually crying through some of it. and when she had the plastic bag over her head it was actually quite shocking. i hope i never have to go through anything like that

[di marco]

I'm going to try and watch it on iplayer if its on there as i missed it. I read somewhere that they had to film in really short pieces as it was so emotionally tiring on them and difficult to film due to the nature of the issue and of course it was a true story wasnt it.

yeh its on iplayer :) i didnt realise it was based on a true story til the end

[Pinkbanana]

I've just finished watching it. How sad was it Julie Walters was brilliant I was in tears. It should both sides of opinion on assisted suicide with her children giving their blessing eventually but her friend was against it.

I'm still undecided against assisted suicides being allowed in this country. I know you would never let animal suffer so how can we let loved ones suffer in pain but I don't think I could go through with watching a loved one take their own lives. I still belive no-one has the right to play God with lives and I pray that I never have to make that decision.

I agree, Julie Walters was fantastic!!! It was quite hard going watching it at times. I must say I'm totally against assisted suicides, and I think ending your life in a horrible little flat in a foreign country made my feelings on the matter even stronger. I really felt for her children being put in such a position, they have to live with the consequences of it, and have their mother's death on their conscience.

I agree with what Kath said, no-one has the right to play God, and I felt thankful for my health last night after watching it.

[parkerman]

I think it is a very difficult and emotive subject. As I do not believe in God that part of it doesn't enter in to it for me, so I have to think about what is best for all concerned on this planet.

Both my parents died after fairly short illnesses after being fit all their lives so fortunately I have never been placed in this dilemma, but, I can understand, obviously, how a child would feel about helping a parent commit suicide. They would never willingly want to lose their mother or father. On the other hand you have to take in to account what is the quality of life for that person. If the person is in excruciating pain and cannot move, is confined to bed all the time and just wants it all over isn't it really selfish of the children to want to prolong the parent's life?

It's a difficult question...I don't really know what my answer is. My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's and can hardly walk because of physical problems with her hips. She is in a nursing home and just spends most of the day in bed or in a chair in the common room with no real idea of what is going on. My wife always says to me, "If I get like that, you have my permission to shoot me."

Of course, I would never do that and, if it came to it, I don't think I would ever be able to help her with an assisted suicide, but, again, would it not be for my own selfish reasons of not wanting to lose her, rather than what is best for her...

I don't know.

[Perdita]

I totally agree with your comments, parkerman, my mum had Alzheimer's and lived in a nursing home the last three years of her life, mostly confined to her bed, weighing no more than 4 stone towards the end, in constant pain. It took her a long time to die and I still get very upset now, 16 years after the event, when I think about it. But would I have assisted in her suicide? To be honest, I probably would not but I would also have to ask the question, would that be for my benefit or hers.

[di marco]

I think it is a very difficult and emotive subject. As I do not believe in God that part of it doesn't enter in to it for me, so I have to think about what is best for all concerned on this planet.

Both my parents died after fairly short illnesses after being fit all their lives so fortunately I have never been placed in this dilemma, but, I can understand, obviously, how a child would feel about helping a parent commit suicide. They would never willingly want to lose their mother or father. On the other hand you have to take in to account what is the quality of life for that person. If the person is in excruciating pain and cannot move, is confined to bed all the time and just wants it all over isn't it really selfish of the children to want to prolong the parent's life?

It's a difficult question...I don't really know what my answer is. My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's and can hardly walk because of physical problems with her hips. She is in a nursing home and just spends most of the day in bed or in a chair in the common room with no real idea of what is going on. My wife always says to me, "If I get like that, you have my permission to shoot me."

Of course, I would never do that and, if it came to it, I don't think I would ever be able to help her with an assisted suicide, but, again, would it not be for my own selfish reasons of not wanting to lose her, rather than what is best for her...

I don't know.

i agree with everything youve said. im not sure what my views are on assisted suicide but i do think that til youre in that situation, either yourself terminally ill and in pain or a loved one wanting to die, then i dont think you can truly know what you would do in the situation

[Siobhan]

if it was my dad and he was confined to bed unable to do anything then yes I would help.. my dad is so full of life and always doing stuff, it would kill him to lose his ability to move about and even worse would be losing his mind.. he is sharp and very intelligent.. if he felt he was losing what makes him, I would help him

[StarsOfCCTV]

So would I. If one of my parents was like that if they wanted to then I've got no right to stop them because its their choice not mine.

[Hollie-x]

I missed watching it on tv so I watched it on iPlayer last night. I cried so much! Julie Walters should get an award for just being alive, she's amazing!

[Abigail]

I watched this last night. I cried buckets when she tried to kill herself and when she was in Zurich.

[Abbie]

Ive just watched it, I cried so much the way through it, I can honestly say its been a long time since I cried like and Ive even started crying now while I type this and think about what Ive just watched
It was good to show both sides I mean ts a very sensitive subject.

Ive always thought that althought assisted suicide may seem horrible I do agree with and after watching this drama after seeing the arguments and circumstances I completely understand.
Yes we all want to live a good long life but in certain cirumstances were your going to have such a poor quality of life and not be able to do anything I can understandy why people go for this option. I mean the doctor knew what was coming and when it gets to the point when your not doing anything abpart from sitting and just looking and breathing and suffering I can understand and would help a person do this. To me, now I dont want to cause upset or offend anyone but in some illness where the person suffers so much and only sits and breathes almost what this drama showed you, its almost like your body is on its own life support machine, keeping you alive but your not really living. For me this porgram showed and explained these differences between being alive and actually living. So if a friend or a family member wanted this, yes I would go through pain, but no where near as much as what my relative will be going through with the disease and it should be their choice

[parkerman]

To me, now I dont want to cause upset or offend anyone but in some illness where the person suffers so much and only sits and breathes almost what this drama showed you, its almost like your body is on its own life support machine, keeping you alive but your not really living.

That is such a good way of describing it, Abbie.

[Perdita]

Showed in a very descriptive way how you can exist or live with quality of life