How to Die: Simon’s Choice, BBC Two’s one-off documentary, depicted the poignant story of Simon Binner.
Diagnosed with the incurable motor neurone disease, he faced the unimaginable decision of whether to end his life at a suicide clinic .
A moving and intimate tale, shot against the back-drop of the recent parliamentary debate on assisted suicide, it featured powerful arguments about both sides of the debate.
Simon’s wife Debbie received a great deal of sympathy and praise on Twitter – having already lost a daughter to a rare bone cancer, she also had to face up to losing her husband.
A bright, articulate man with a love of life, it’s little wonder the programme affected so many viewers.
In the end, he went through with the assisted suicide in a Swiss clinic and died in October 2015.
Tears
Love for Simon
Admiration for Debbie
An important message
A heartbreaking programme
But some opposition too
In response to the documentary Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, said: “No one can fail to be moved by Simon’s Choice. It showed that Simon and his wife both loved each other and loved life very much but, following his diagnosis with his terminal condition that would eventually rob him of his life, he sought to choose the manner of his death.”
She added: “What Simon’s Choice also demonstrates is that, in Parliament rejecting a safe legal option here in the UK, dying people will continue to take such measures in order to have control at the end of life.”
In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123.
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