Terry Pratchett Draws Fire For Supporting BBC Documentary

LONDON – Writer Terry Pratchett said Tuesday that watching a man being helped to die had reaffirmed his support for assisted suicide, while anti-euthanasia groups criticized the televised death as propaganda that could encourage copycat suicides.

The suicide, filmed for a BBC documentary, has reopened debate on Britain's decades-old law against helping another person end their life.

Anti-euthanasia groups have come out against the documentary, even trying to bluff the BBC into justifying the documentary by requesting the government  "to carry out an urgent investigation into the way that assisted suicide has been covered by the BBC and its link to English suicide rates."  The BBC said they were presenting facts and giving people the right to make up their own minds about the issue.  They did not apologize for presenting those facts.  Good for them.


Despite what some may think, we're not mindless idiots who are doomed to be controlled by a TV screen.  JWhile both sides have some legitimate points to make, what is so wrong with allowing a person to decide their own destiny?  If someone is opposed to ending their life in the face of agony without relief, let them exercise their option to choose for themselves.  However, allow those who feel differently the same right to decide how they will live, and die.