ABC "Four Corners" - Final Call (2007)
A confronting report in which fit and healthy elderly Australians reveal plans to take their own lives before they lose their independence.

They swim and dance and play golf. They're devoted to families and grandchildren. They read and engage with the world.

Lorna, Richard and Muriel lead lives that are rich and full -- but they intend to deliberately end their lives when they think the time is right.

They are among an increasingly activist minority of elderly Australians who say they will commit suicide before they are overtaken by frailty, illness or dependence. Such a radical step, they claim, is a final act of self-determination and a human right.

Four Corners has been told hundreds of Australian seniors are planning to take their own lives to pre-empt the inevitable loss of autonomy. "This is about the dignity of the end of my life," says Muriel. "I just don't want to end up as a vegetable," says June. "I don't want to be locked up in a nursing home where all you get is bingo and singsongs," says Ruth.

Richard, 90, a former World War II digger, has already drafted his death notice for the papers. It ends "by his own hand".

Most of the elderly people who speak to Four Corners are supported in their fateful decisions by spouses or adult children. But in some cases there is intense anguish.

We meet a father and son who love each other deeply but are completely at odds. The father thinks life should end when quality leaves it. His son, a committed Christian, would do anything to change his father's mind. He frets about how he will tell his own kids about grandpa's death: "Our life and this world is a gift and we have a responsibility to live in it responsibly," he insists.

Some doctors and ethicists are disturbed by what they see as the extremism of elderly people deciding to commit suicide. They worry that it reflects a growing view that to be old and in need of care is to lack dignity, to be a burden on society.

Janine Cohen's report will unsettle some viewers and spark public debate. But as Australia grows older - by the time most baby boomer survivors hit their mid-80s the number of elderly people will have increased 400 per cent - it is a discussion the nation has to have. Is this start of a new phenomenon?
Reporter: Janine Cohen
http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/conten...