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On 10 December a controversial documentary showed the suicide of Craig Ewert, a 59 year old man with motor neurone disease (Sky Real Lives, 9 pm). We see Craig in an apartment in Zurich, surrounded by his wife and a social worker, switch off his time controlled ventilator. Unable to press the switch with his fingers, he does so with his teeth. The social worker hands him a potion of sodium pentobarbital. "Mr Ewert," he says, "if you drink this you're going to die." Craig sucks the liquid through a straw and grimaces. He asks for apple juice to wash away the unpleasant taste. At his request, the first movement of Beethoven's ninth symphony resounds around the room. "Thank you," he says after finishing the cocktail. The camera is fixed on Craig. Gradually his eyes close. He falls asleep.
The documentary, Right to Die? , follows two couples in their search for a peaceful death with the aid of the Swiss group Dignitas: Craig and Mary Ewert and George and Betty Coumbias. Unlike Craig, septuagenarian George was not terminally ill, nor in a wheelchair. He had had a series of heart attacks and lamented his inability to play tennis or golf or have sex. He wanted to die while still in relatively good health. His wife, although healthy, could not contemplate a life without him and wanted to die with her husband. Although they loved their two adult children, they loved each other more and wanted to leave this world together. The director of Dignitas, the human rights...