No i wouldn't watch this crap, why would I want to watch someone's death, how morbid is that and why on earth are they putting it on TV????

I'm not sure I would watch it, but I do think it ought to be aired. I hope this documentary can raise support for legalizing assisted suicide.

I wouldn't watch it, but I don't see why it should not be aired.

The worries over this making people want to commit suicide are ridiculous - this isn't a fashion fad that everyone will be requesting in the morning after they watch it on TV.

I think the whole thing is sick and I wish they wouldn't air it. I dont think I could ever do anything like that but then again im not in his situation. I wish him the best.

I dont think they should air the suicide, his reasoning etc and a story about his life-fine. But showing what he does to end his life is for shock value.

I'm all about shock value. I wonder when it's coming out on DVD in America.

I would be very interested to watch - not the final moments, but more so about him coping with this disease and how he came to this decision. I find it interesting that the critic from MediaWatch-UK says "Broadcasters must always remain impartial otherwise they could influence the public or other sufferers into making a similar action - that's my anxiety." You're going to influence the public whether you are impartial or not. Impartiality has nothing to do with it. It's a human story, and it should be told. I just don't see how you can turn off influence from anywhere whether it's tv, books, or movies. As members of the audience with our own thoughts and brains, we take in whatever we see, no matter what the intent of the creator. We are influenced by everything we see/hear, and we should be. Humans have the ability to empathize and understand and make our own decisions. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be given the opportunity to hear about someone else's story just because it is traumatic and controversial. It's real life. It absolutely should be aired.

I'm not crazy about the idea - I can understand why some people want to air it, and I do believe assisted suicide should be legal and information available, I just don't feel comfortable with the idea of putting it on t.v.
You don't know who's watching and why and I just think with death we should be a little more cautious about that.

I would watch, not for his death but for his story. I think as westerners we tend to have a very disconnected relationship with death. I don't find this as shocking as the people commenting above. It is simply a fact that there are people out there with terminal illnesses choosing to die, and this is telling one of their stories. It's not simply about his death but what leads him to make that choice. It is something I would be interested to see.

I think Jeff Probst should be there, and at the last minute go "the tribe has spoken" and snuff out this guys torch.

awful just awful. just let these people die in peace and at the time of their choosing and stop making them pull stunts like this for their cause. this is disturbing, but so is life sometimes.

i agree with some people above. watching the documentary itself would be interesting. to see the choices a man makes before ending his own life and trying to understand them could be informative. i don't think it's necessary to show the final moments, however. that just seems too much.

I think Jeff Probst should be there, and at the last minute go "the tribe has spoken" and snuff out this guys torch.

Hahaha! YES!

I'm not shocked and I agree we have a disconnected relationship with death. But my thoughts immediately went to depressed teens, people suffering from painful but treatable if they could only afford it conditions - people who probably would watch something like this for all the wrong reasons.

I think this gentleman has the right to end his life, but I think that it shouldn't be televised.

I think it is important to air this footage.

I think it is terrible that terminally ill people have limited resources to find credible information about this kind of thing. I am sure that there are all sorts of stories about "how" something like this would actually happen, whether there is pain, a feeling of suffocation, etc. I think this would give people who are considering a similar option a realistic representation of how it happens.

i doubt anyone made him participate in the documentary, I'm sure it was his own choice, just like it was his choice to choose how he would live and die. Maybe it's important to him and he felt this was his way to contribute something meaningful, that maybe some good could come from his story, tragic as it is. Perhaps that was a comfort to him, even.

Ivygreene, that's what I mean too. His story, though I haven't seen it, is undoubtedly an important one, and if he felt the need to share it, and if some people out there are willing to hear it, then it should be told.

I think this man has made a decision she has not taken lightly. I think it may be important for people to understand what it means to live a life like his. Some of those pro-lifers want to stop his action but I doubt any of them know what its like to feel totally trapped in your own body. Bless him and his family.

It's his choice and should be respected (and I agree with the other posters who said it is doubtful this type of documentary was done without his full consent).

I wouldn't watch it, and I don't think they should air the actual suicide. Maybe show everything before, describe what he did and the process, and a short video afterstory with the family might be more appropriate. I think that would give a more complete picture.

They *do* show the process of assisted suicides in movies, but this is real life - there's no way to know who's going to be watching for what reason and how they will be affected by it.

Also, I've never seen footage of people actually *dying* on TV [real life, NOT dramas!], whether violently or not. I don't think I would want to, either. What makes this situation any different?

This should be aired. I wouldn't watch it because it would depress me and I agree with these people anyway. There was a famous case in Spain a few years ago, Javier Bardem made a film, "The Sea Inside". It must be awful living like this. I don't feel that telling them to be strong and hold on is compasionate at all.

Regarding the consequences it may have on depressed people, who knows. This is completely different. I wonder if someone could say "Well, after all I'm not that bad". Maybe it could have lots of warnings and the like but it still should be aired.

This is weird but I find it as an interesting life and accepting his fate. I actually would watch the special and watch the end. The awful pain he must feel and his wife as well, to ease that type of pain and despair.

I wouldn't be able to watch it...too much of a softie.

I think if it sends the right message about assisted suicide then it should be shown. But I hope that people would watch it for the right reasons, not to satisfy their morbid curiosity.

As someone who had a good friend do just this with ALS/MND, I think it's important that people realize the extreme situations that some people have to go through with such diseases. Yes, there's the publicity and shock value for the sponsors, but I hope that it will also be a very educational situation for the public.

I'm glad this is in the UK, so I don't have to watch it.

I can understand why the want to to be aired. I think maybe they should air it on a channel that isn't a popular channel maybe (I don't know how the UK's TV system works though). I do think in extreme situtations, this should be an option. No one should have to suffer.

As far as me watching it, no. I watched my grandfather die (a very painful death) and that was one too many.

I wouldn't watch it, but I'm not totally against the airing of it. I just don't really see the "reasoning" behind it. I mean people who are pro-life probably aren't going to agree with it, and even people who don't have anything against assisted suicide etc probably will feel on some level uncomfortable watching it....so what's the point?

Maybe there are people like Calimie said...that will realize they're not suffering as badly as they think and will choose not to go down that path.

Or maybe there are people that actually are suffering, and need to know what they might expect, should they choose to go down that path.

bluesarahlou - good points!

Well said, bluesarahlou!

Has the world gone mad?

Yes, zeze, sometimes a single well publicized suicide can indeed be a "fashion fad".

I am conservative, but I'm not religious. If a person really wants to end his/her life, I understand how much they must be suffering to even have that thought and respect their decisions. But that being shown on TV? It's ridiculously OFFENSIVE. If I ever watch it, I'd be depressed for months. This is truly bizarre, and TV channels are really pushing it and crossing the moral limit.

The problem, VanillaJ, is that right now, what this man did is illegal. In Spain, if it was probed you helped someone like him to die you'd be prosecuted. That's why they need to raise awareness to their situation, because many many people don't think like you do and condemn them to live. Once the whole of society has evolved in this direction, they will be able to die with dignity in their own homes, not somewhere in Switzerland.

As far as feeling "offended" by this - no, I would not feel offended, nor do I have a problem watching it as long as it was this man's decision to have his story aired, because given his predicament I am sure he had more than enough good reasons for wanting to do so, fame not being one of them.

I think its a brave, touching and entirely human decision, intensely personal, and while my first response is "but why air it"...I am in NO POSITION to judge his choice. His choice, I am sure, comes with damn good reasoning.

I am more offended by the meaningless, stupid, senseless, crap thrust onto airwaves around the world daily, than the brave and heartwrenching story of what people in physically painful or debilitating conditions have to go through simply to have the right to die peacefully and at the time of their choosing.

Why should I be offended? Nothing this man is doing would possibly offend me more than the tripe that passes for regular network television already does.

It was his choice, and I would watch to hear his words on the subject more than any other reason. Far from being a call to arms for everyone to run out and "kill themselves", its also a call to understand that the sanctity of death means as much to many people as life.

Unless I'm mistaken, from what I understand from reading the papers and interviews with this man before this airs, it was his choice to have his death featured in a documentary on television to help people cope with the idea of death and to also tell his story about why he chose to die. And UnDave, even if this aired in the US, you wouldn't have to watch it. As for the program and situation itself, ShadowDamage expresses my sentiments above better than I could (as usual ).

In case anyone wants to watch the director talk about the Documentary... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeZvM34H5so

How would it be offensive?