This Old Man Is Healthy But Wants To Kill Himself | Foreign Correspondent

if you agree that your mental capacity is completely fine you say yes do you understand oh well i'm alright i know it's it's frankly i it's a little weird i must admit but this is the final form so david goodall is a long way from home at the age of 104 he's traveled from australia all the way to switzerland where it's legal to get help to suicide david if you don't understand something just ask me and i will i didn't but his grandson duncan goodall has flown in from the u.s to be by his side is your mental capacity good i think serious yes absolutely i would agree do you have an incurable illness no no are you in unbearable pain no in an hour dr goodall will kill himself with a lethal dose of barbiturates before he does he must prove he understands the nature of his decision are you influenced by others to make this decision no so i've known dr goodall for five years and in that time i've seen him transform from an active and animated man into someone who feels he has nothing to live for so just leave it as due to because i want to um tonight the inside story of david goodall's final days as he crosses the globe farewelling family and campaigning for his last rights do you have any last words or do you feel like you've said yeah yes yes yes you've been very patient and we all appreciate that [Music] so [Music] for me dr goodall's decision to die is difficult to understand just a week before we were with him while he was visiting family in bordeaux in the southwest of france and he was full of life what's your step yes it's a small one you remember yes for many years the city's been home to david's son the third of his four children it's just a little little step just now very tiny hannah goodall is his daughter-in-law her marriage is over but she stayed in close contact with her [Music] [Applause] [Music] father-in-law today hannah is taking him to visit the family home it's east of the city in the middle of the wine growing region and david loves it here [Music] we'll go around the car and we will approach to the gate all right shall we go there we are good got another one still some left it's a small mouth here one thing [Music] well well i think you you animals have had probably enough of camp now oh well hello this is obviously a very important place for you and it's a very special place yes that's right it's our family house children were brought up here in the nature with animals nearly 3 years he was coming to see us yeah there is a horse i don't know how he managed he was always here important eyes of our life what what is it that you like about this place david well it's mainly the people here but also the landscape you haven't seen across the valley yet which is uh quite quite a nice switzer yes [Music] i have to climb the stairs they made it maybe a bit complicated [Music] so here we are i'm here if you need there's a chip no i know something right now don't you think that that is a fine [Music] view in the weeks before bordeaux david goodall was with family on the other side of the world [Applause] i thought i was going along to report on a celebration instead dr goodall made a surprise announcement at age 104 are you happy are you happy no no i'm not happy i want to die that came as a shock to many of us at the abc in perth we'd done stories about him over the years and he seemed unstoppable born in london david goodall was a respected ecologist and plant scientist working all over the world [Music] he settled in australia in the late 1940s marrying three times he wasn't a very good husband he was a very very difficult man because he was so focused on science david goodall's other passion was acting and he performed into his late nineties i am sorry madam for the news i bring is heavy in my tongue i'm now 97 nearly 98 and i've done it since i was about 15 so you can make the deduction 80 odd years [Music] dr goodall was still working at the age of 102 commuting to his office four days a week but he was dealt a blow when the university told him it was no longer safe for him to be based on campus i would be glad if they did reconsider it but i'm i don't feel that i'm in a position to impress it after a public backlash the university found him an office closer to home by the age of 104 though david's eyesight and mobility had deteriorated once i lost my driving license that's a critical thing all sorts of other avenues were close to me i no longer find much joy in life and up to even up to the age of 90 i was enjoying life but not now this year he had a fall and spent two days on the kitchen floor before his cleaner found him after a stay in hospital he feared he'd be forced into a nursing home for the very first time ever he attempted suicide he'd always planned that at some point if life was not worth living or there was not enough quality that this is what he would do but of course that failed [Music] yeah and that would be about right for breakfast in australia euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal from next year though voluntary euthanasia will be legal in victoria for those who are terminally ill and close to death but that law wouldn't apply to someone like david goodall who's not sick dr goodall hello lovely to see you how are you feeling oh anxious a little anxious and keen to get on with the job dr goodall is a long time member of exit international a group which campaigns for voluntary euthanasia i bought this jacket for you yes excerpts arranged him an appointment with an organisation in switzerland which assists people to suicide he's leaving today his daughter karen isn't going with him it's too confronting are you unhappy that you've ended up in this position where you're having to fly i am indeed i would prefer to remain where i am but i'm happy that i should be able to leave leave this life even if it means going to switzerland to do so [Music] many it's five days before david goodall is due to die oh you've come back well you've been brought back he wasn't there was it oh he makes himself comfortable oh oh yes good once i really need the same thing david's grandson daniel and his partner marie have prepared food for a final lunch at the family home in bordeaux hello the family heard about their grandfather's decision three weeks earlier this is uh an unusual first greeting first time it was a shock really a complete shock but after a second thought in fact i was happy for david still sad for myself but happy for david um you can't come would you like with your meal okay yes [Music] would you like some more um you know the sunny pie would you like some more i'll have a look yes okay little one how have you explained your decision to end your life to them i haven't had occasion to explain it i i think it's probably rather evident that my life has now become so uh so poor that it's not worth continuing is there any part of you that wants to try and change his mind me to change his mind you don't change mind david's mind ever ever he always thinks in a different way and i think it's a destiny of unusual men to make unusual decisions who are changing a life of many [Music] from bordeaux david goodall takes a final flight to basel a town in northern switzerland his very personal journey is about to turn into a major media event at the airport is dr philip nitschke the founder of exit international who was banned in 2015 by the medical board of australia from giving advice about suicide now based in the netherlands dr nitschke is working closely with the swiss organization circle would you like to hop up there say hello are you a dog person this is a lady from china who wants to know how you're going oh hello dr nitschke's partner fiona stewart is managing the growing media interest this is this is jamie from associated press in new york dr goodall's story is attracting so much attention because he's an unusual case he's not sick or in pain but has chosen to end his life simply because he's had enough in europe this idea of of a person's right to die as opposed to this idea of it being some form of medical privilege is a real cutting edge issue in the debate not in australia but in europe it is about two people in here i reckon his views epitomise and he articulates them so well this changing sentiment about about where end of life legislation should be headed [Music] switzerland is a country famous for its traditions and conservatism but in one aspect at least the swiss are radical their laws on assisted suicide are among the most liberal in the world in simple terms it's legal to help someone kill themselves so long as your motives aren't selfish in other words if it's not a malicious act it's not a crime so an act of compassion is not a crime so that freed up people to be able to assist and it led then to swiss people being able to get access to the drugs to give them peaceful debt the number of swiss people accessing assisted suicide has quadrupled over the past 15 years but it doesn't stop with its own citizens there are a number of countries around the world where voluntary euthanasia is legal but switzerland is unusual it's one of just two countries that allows assisted dying for foreigners hundreds of people make that one-way trip every year giving rise to the phenomenon that's been labelled suicide tourism and that's stirring up debate amongst the swiss while polls have shown there's public support for the policy some swiss think it tarnishes their country's image anne-marie pfeiffer is a psychologist and city councillor i am very proud of our reputation as we are the pioneers of the red cross who is all over the world and really helping people but here i think this is somehow against our really values of the red cross helping people to live anne-marie pfeiffer fears that easy access to assisted suicide could put pressure on old people it's already a pressure that it could be an easy way out nobody would have to pay anymore family would have some more money left off and so there is a pressure of very old life is no more valuable it's tuesday afternoon just two days before dr goodall is scheduled to die duncan hello how are you lovely to see you thank you for having me sure david here this is charlotte from the ibc how are you going well i'm not going as well as can be expected but yes today has been enlivened by the arrival of my grandson it's a very strange situation it's it's almost surreal um but then on top of that there's the the whole political aspect of it that i just that that makes me really angry that my grandfather has to come all this way to do something that he should have every right to do before he lives yes yes how are you feeling about the next couple of days i'm looking forward to it in a way i'm i'm anxious to finish with it and that will happen uh which day uh on thursday thursday are you afraid um are you afraid no and you're quite resolute in the decision you've made yes that's right all right good to go i still have a a visceral reaction to it when i just think about it because you know who wants to take their own life like that just having someone take their own life just is repellent to me but when you think of it through and you sort of rationalize it it i guess it makes sense before he can fulfill his wish dr goodall is required by the swiss organization life circle to undergo psychological evaluation i've started to work with the organization here this year anaesthetist christian weber is one of two doctors who will assess his state of mind the other is a psychiatrist one of the most important points is that we are convinced that this person is acting as a sound of mind as acting free has well considered over a long time has decision for assisted suicide how do you make a determination within a one-hour appointment that someone is of sound mind if you're asking the same question so once again again or the same question a few couple of minutes later and you have a coherent response of of this person and this is all but also the general impression how it presents if he's really confused or if he formulates clearly what are you thinking tomorrow the board of life circle will assess the doctor's reports and make a final decision on dr goodall's request if it gives its approval the day after tomorrow will be his last [Music] [Applause] the next day exit international organises a press conference at the hotel and the media descends we've arrived a bit late so i'll just ask you to be nice and respectful to everybody else in the room before the press conference life circle's lawyer comes to the hotel david yeah this is this is mr moritz hi nice to meet you he is the lawyer for life circle so he's the man who's come to talk to you now he's here to let dr goodall know the board's decision on his request for an assisted suicide it's given its approval yeah this will be about it's said to be speaking at about this uh this volume i i think david will probably speak up quite a bit softer so just make sure that there's room for please that bag tell me hi david welcome to the press conference it's the first time i've seen dr goodall look a little overwhelmed i am impressed with the number of people do you feel any extra pressure on you given the number of people that are here to share in your story well i suppose that is in a sense of pressure but i i i i don't feel that anyone else's choice is involved do you feel that you may have more to contribute to life to the world well i don't think so i think over these few days that i've been coming here the widespread interest in my faith has been my contribution another quick question can i ask tomorrow in the final moments have you chosen any song or any tune that will be played as if i had to do something i think it would be the final movement of v2 besides simply very nice i think we can arrange something tomorrow [Music] away from the spotlight david's grandchildren confide they're feeling the pressure even if it's not easy for us to make it public and to share it with the rest of the world we know it was important for david it was a cause that really mattered for him so what we think about it it doesn't really matter he could have very easily taken a different route he could have said i'm going to gather my family around me and everyone else leave he could have very easily done that and he could have excluded the media he could have just walked away and just done it the way that was good and comfortable for him but he didn't do that and said he made a very difficult choice to bring everyone in and to make those sort of sacrifices and to change things for better tonight they'll take their grandfather out for one last dinner but they're uneasy about tomorrow it's hard to to think what will happen tomorrow i i don't know how i will react and what will happen [Music] [Music] on his last day david is up early his daughter karen calls him from perth to say goodbye david is never been good at saying i love you he's never said it in fact so i said to him i love you david and he said oh thank you and i said you can say i love you too he went oh i love you to know that he was going to die that day and that i was never going to talk to him again it was really important for me to talk to him and to hear that [Music] the rooms where dr goodall will die are on the outskirts of a town near basel [Music] i'm still convinced it's the right thing professor when the family arrives they're taken aback even at this sensitive moment there's a lot of media but dr goodall is still happy to take questions and do you hope that by publicizing it you will get people talking about it after you're done certainly i'm happy that that should be here so yes i hear with declare that i will not hold responsible either the accompanist it falls to duncan to help his grandfather navigate the final paperwork i discharged the two doctors who wrote the expertise in regards to my illness from their obligation of secrecy do you agree so that's all right except that it refers to my illness and i i am not here she takes issue with the illness so can we can we cross that out and then because oh well if we can cross it out as we wait for more documents i'm able to steal a moment with david i wish you much peace thank you for being so generous with us thank you thank you now here's the mechanism right here most critically he has to learn how to administer himself the lethal dose he alone must push the lever this mechanism you have to do this alone and we and no one can be around you this is the the most important part so push it up again so push it this way push it that way up up the slide can you you can use both thumbs okay yeah there yes one more very good it's just it is a little bit isn't it uh the team abc has to leave yes now at this point we're asked to stop filming do you think you can do it [Music] yep david goodall lies on the bed and his family gathers around he struggles with the mechanism but finally manages to work the lever and he just he hit it and he laid back closed his eyes and about 30 seconds later he opened his eyes looked around and said oh it's taking rather a long time [Music] so and he closed his eyes again and about another 15 or 20 seconds later he fell asleep uh you know you don't know how to think about these things you know you think that human life like has such a high value and that we should save at all costs but there are times when that isn't actually the case i don't know how to articulate it i've never felt anything like this before so i don't know how to talk about it [Music] for duncan it's hard to process but he says his grandfather died the way he lived on his own terms [Music] he made his death have meaning you know he he saw this thing that he could do to to help people that came after him he also did it in such a way that allowed his family to have closure so all the people that were closest to him could say goodbye because that that is also a great gift that you can give your family and such is giving them that last opportunity to say those things they always want to say [Music] you

Channel: ABC News In-depth

Views: 929,301

Rating: 4.6508512 out of 5

Keywords: david goodall, Foreign, Correspondent, Lifecircle, ABC, death, Dying, Documentary, dignitas, medicine, switzerland, euthanasia, health, ageing, old, people, pallative, care, doctor, voluntary, ep, nembutal, Pentobarbital, philip nitschke, Go Gental, hospital, foreign correspondent, andrew denton, exit international, assisted suicide, full episode, voluntary euthanasia

Id: tWDnW17-gNk

Length: 32min 1sec (1921 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 18 2018