| Description |
1 online resource (streaming video file) (53 min. 9 sec.) ; 318733064 bytes |
| Summary |
*Adult Themes. This program contains scenes that may disturb some viewers*The controversy about a person's right to die at a time and place of their own choosing has become focused on the Swiss organisation Dignitas, and its founder, civil rights lawyer, Ludwig Minelli. Dignitas, based in Zurich Switzerland, is the only place in the world where a person seeking an assisted suicide can be helped to die, no matter where they are from. For a year, Oscar-winning Canadian director John Zaritsky had exclusive access to Dignitas, and its clients.In The Suicide Tourist, Zaritsky tells two interwoven stories about suicide. In the first, he follows a terminally ill man, 59-year-old American Craig Ewert, through the last four days of his life - preparing to leave his adopted home in England for the last time, then on his journey to Zurich, and into the care of Dignitas, with whose help he will end his life. Dignitas - a kind of travel agency to the afterlife - has made all the arrangements.His death takes place in a rented apartment, where a Dignitas employee prepares a fatal drink. With his wife Mary at his side, Craig swallows the poison, and slips quietly into a final sleep. In Switzerland, the law says only that suicide must not be assisted for personal gain. Ludwig Minelli believes the option of a painless and dignified death is a basic human right, and should be legal for all.The second story in The Suicide Tourist follows Canadian couple George and Betty Coumbias, who test that philosophy, and the Swiss tolerance for a law that some say is giving Zurich a reputation for suicide tourism. George has terminal heart disease, and would like to choose the time of his death with the help of Dignitas; his wife Betty is determined to die with him, even though she is perfectly healthy.PRODUCTION DETAILS:Producer / Director: John Zaritsky; Producer: Terence McKeown. Point Grey Pictures |
| Notes |
Closed captioning in English |
| Event |
Broadcast 2011-02-20 at 00:00:00 |
| Notes |
Classification: M |
| Subject |
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Patients.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis -- Psychological aspects.
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Assisted suicide -- Moral and ethical aspects.
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Right to die -- Decision making.
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Switzerland.
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| Form |
Streaming video
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| Author |
Quinn, Iris, cast
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Zaritsky, John, director
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