Renowned Australian scientist David Goodall, 104, will travel to Switzerland to end his life
Renowned Australian scientist David Goodall, 104, said Monday he will travel to Switzerland this week to end his life.
Goodall, the country’s oldest scientist, is not terminally ill but said he is ready to die and called on Australia to consider legalizing assisted suicide, The Guardian reported.
“I greatly regret having reached that age. I would much prefer to be 20 or 30 years younger,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp . When asked whether he had a nice birthday, he told the news organization: “No, I’m not happy. I want to die. ... It’s not sad, particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.”
“My feeling is that an old person like myself should have full citizenship rights, including the right of assisted suicide,” he added.
The scientist is slated to travel to Switzerland for the procedure. Doctor-assisted suicide is illegal in many countries but Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands have legalized euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.
In Switzerland, the law “prohibits assisted suicide but only for selfish motives,” The Washington Post reported.
The state of Victoria in Australia recently passed a euthanasia bill. In 2019, it will be legal for terminally ill patients to undergo the procedure. Six states in the U.S., including California, Vermont and Oregon have passed death-with dignity laws for terminally ill people.
Goodall is an advocate for assisted suicide and said “one should be free to use the rest of his life as one chooses.”
“If one chooses to kill oneself, then that’s fair enough. I don’t think anyone else should interfere,” he said.
Goodall said he was physically fit and even played tennis until he was 90. He said his eyesight started to decline and was told to leave his job as an honorary research assistant at Edith Cowan University after two decades. He was 102 years old at the time. Goodall said the school’s decision to let him go upset him, but university officials overturned their decision.
However, the scientist said he is ready to die and that his health is steadily declining.
“Why should it make me sad?” Goodall said. “I don’t regard it as grim, I regard it as natural.”
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Tough one. People should have the RIGHT to end their own lives, but I also think there should be a certain amount of hoops to go through to give time and space for the person to reconsider.
For those that care to research this matter.
I don't think there should be a bunch of Hoops, just one a six month waiting period. Fill out the paperwork and send it in and get your permit saying after a certain date you will be eligible, then make an appointment. I think if you want to kill yourself today and you still feel the same way in six months there is no one who should have the right to say you can't.
Recently a man tried to commit suicide by blowing himself up. He broke the gas line that came into his house, lit a candle in the basement, house went boom, he survived but caused damage to other homes on the street. He was arrested.
Not so tough for me really .
the biggest problem with suicide is that those left behind , usually don't have answers as to the why. and with that said , I have noticed that it is a permanent solution to sometimes very temporary situations a lot of times.
I wish I could say the only times I have ever thought of the subject is because I was asked my opinion on it which in itself just being asked , would make one think of situations where they would justify the action, but I cant because I had someone I pledged my life to attempt suicide, they failed , but the overwhelming sense of guilt on my part affected me deeper than I would like to admit for a very long time .
I do know because I have been asked my opinion , where I stand , and for me if its a matter of quality of life , with no recourse to improve , such as a terminal illness, a disabling injury that would preclude myself from doing as I wish with my life , and that's the key it is my life and I get to choose the quality of the life I desire, it then remains my choice what to do.
I wonder what hoops or protocols can be set up if any , especially on a matter that is usually a very private and personal matter.
Sad that the gent has to travel so far to do what one should be able to complete in the comfort of their own surroundings.
Always have been a fan of Dr. Jack
I would think that the usual deterrent for choosing suicide in old age is the voiding of a life insurance policy. If you live to be 104 you've probably paid more in premiums in your lifetime than your policy is even worth, and renewing a term policy would be insanely expensive at that age so there's probably a good chance he has no policy. If you want out painlessly, it's pretty easy - close the garage door, leave the car running, and take a nap.
Afternoon hal, I don't knoiw how much a deterent a LIP actually is , if someone is depressed because of a financial situation, remember the old Capra movie , its a wonderful Life? Ole man potter told geo bailey he was worth more dead than alive. which of course is the premise of the movie , George finding out how things would have ended up if he never existed.
and making a suicide look like an accident isn't really that hard.
and making a suicide look like an accident isn't really that hard.
I would think that the insurance industry has seen everything by now, and they know how challenge any questionable claim. In today’s socially connected world, a potentially suicidal person may leave enough bread crumbs online to raise eyebrows from an insurance fraud investigator. It’s a for-profit business like any other, and has a duty to its shareholders as well as a host of greedy executives to keep happy.
My personal feeling is that assisted suicide should be legal. Whether it is or isn’t legal won’t stop a suicidal person from committing suicide. In the end, you just have different degrees of cleanup and induced mental anguish.
That's what my dad did. I think I'm the only one of the kids in my family who wasn't angry about that but it's still very confusing for anyone close to the deceased, and my mom spent years trying to understand why it happened.
I think I’d try to go with the fentanyl. To me that sounds like a relaxing and painless way to check out. In my opinion living in severe pain either mental or physical is worse than death. We read a lot about these overdoses lately but what a lot of people don’t understand is that much of the time it is better than suffering when there is no other option.
I wouldn’t want to encourage anyone to do that, but I agree that it would be a painless way to get the job done.
I have to laugh (morbidly) when I see that the death penalty is being compromised by a shortage of lethal injection drugs. Every OD’d person I see on tv doesn’t look like they’re suffering to me. I say if the government is going to confiscate hundreds of pounds of the stuff, from the people selling it to the people who are willingly risking their lives for it, then use it to put a smile on the faces of death row inmates. It’s pretty well proven to do the job painlessly.
To state the obvious, he is 104. How much longer could he have left...
10 years is not out of the question. He's made it this far and he has nothing terminal. That being said, I'm a strong advocate of the right to die. Anyone who wants to end their life for any reason, healthy or not, should be given a painless, dignified way out. Why force people to blow their brains out and jump off buildings?
After 104 years, I think he has earned the right to end his life on his terms.