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We meet a man who helped his terminally ill mother to die. Sean Davison, a scientist from South Africa, travelled to New Zealand to look after his mother. As her health deteriorated, she finally asked him to help her to end her life. Some time after her death, Sean was arrested and charged with attempted murder. He was later convicted of a lesser offence and sentenced to five months house detention. Now Sean is a leading campaigner for assisted dying to be legalised, having founded an organisation called Dignity SA. Sean's been telling me about the events that led up to his mother's death.
Once I arrived in New Zealand, her health steadily deteriorated as was expected. Initially she lost the ability to walk easily she would hold on to objects as she walked around the house. She found food tasted metallic, which was obviously we all enjoy eating food and that became one pleasure in life she lost. She lost the ability to read and the ability to paint, both passions in her life. So there was a steady deterioration in her life.
And what was her attitude towards her death when you first arrived in New Zealand?
Well, both of our attitudes at that time were in a way to celebrate her life. She's 85 years old. She'd lived a full and very colourful life. She lived in a small village called Broad Bay, was on the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, and each day we'd go for wonderful drives around the peninsula. | 
发表于 2016-9-13 14:41:12