BBC First Live "Real Death" On Broadcast TV

Dont know what to say to this, but its kinda strange Putting On live broadcast !



Video Description : WARNING: You may find this upsetting. Death is the final subject in the first episode of Inside The Human Body. We see an 84 year old man pass away as the cameras film his last days.

I didn't watch for obvious reasons....but what does suicide have to do with this?

The title of the second vid says "live natural death"?

Any details would be greatly appreciated

reply to post by CastleMadeOfSand


Your right

Losing somebody close to you is very difficult, especially a parent that has been with you all your life, you can't really prepare for it.

People might find this offensive, but I find it a good look into what happens. I have experienced this, I did watch my grandmother die, and even though it was a scary and stressful process I learned alot about death. My grandmother slipped into the unconscious stage quickly and it lasted almost exactly 7 days. I found that excruciatingly long, and I hope she wasnt aware of the time.

With saying that I do think that this isnt always the outcome, and I think death is varied from person to person. My grandmother had dimentia and she was waking up blind and yelling for dead relatives only to fall back out of conciousness. I hope people take this as an example of a natural peaceful death but not what every death is like. Im curious (maybe i missed it) if it mentions the "death rattle", a truly disturbing experience with death.

Funnily enough I bumped into an old colleague who said she had heard they were asking people how they wanted to die but I had to go before she finished. So in a way I wasn't surprised to see darling Terry Pratchett on this topic because of his altzheimers.

I was so sad because a brilliant author like him is a huge loss and also because I loved so much his books, they have cheered me up so many times, but I still daren't read them in a train carriage for suddenly bursting out into hysterical laughter.

I think it disgraceful that both a small religious minority who want to impose their religion down everyone else's throat and a neurotic few super rich may dictate over the rest of us and deny us the right to choose to end our lives with dignity and the least disturbance to our families. One of the big soaps is depicting assisted suicide and its seems my colleague was right and we may be being prepared to accept this. Its the cheap option to the nursing requirements in a hospital these days and Cameron wants cuts - more money for war and invasion, what david???

Originally posted by CastleMadeOfSand
I didn't watch for obvious reasons....but what does suicide have to do with this?

The title of the second vid says "live natural death"?

Any details would be greatly appreciated

the guy is a famous author terry prachett.. he has an incurable disease and is suffering. he goes to switzerland for legal euthanasia (Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering)
the bbc showe the process on tv tonight including the death of him...
i didnt actually watch it but i think this is what it is about..

edit to add link of article from the telegraph explaining the story..
telegraph article

IMO

none of us ever got the choice to be
brought into this world so I think it
is only fitting that we all be given a
choice of how we end it.

It is compassionate and humane
when the world is by nature, not so.

God gave us choice, use it.

Originally posted by Misterlondon

Originally posted by CastleMadeOfSand
I didn't watch for obvious reasons....but what does suicide have to do with this?

The title of the second vid says "live natural death"?

Any details would be greatly appreciated

the guy is a famous author terry prachett.. he has an incurable disease and is suffering. he goes to switzerland for legal euthanasia (Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering)
the bbc showe the process on tv tonight including the death of him...
i didnt actually watch it but i think this is what it is about..

edit to add link of article from the telegraph explaining the story..
telegraph article

edit on 13/6/11 by Misterlondon because: (no reason given)

he isnt dead..........

I guess for me it all depends on circumstance... I know that most of these places exist to euthanize only those with terminal and incurable illness.

This is something that I see as okay.... I would hope that no one in my family did it, because love is a selfish thing like that... But I can sort of put myself into the shoes of some one going through a terminal illness and contemplating this option.

But at the same time, I do not want it made available to the general public ( I am reminded of the suicide booths from Futurama).... That I would not support....

At least people with terminal illness have a decent reason...

reply to post by Itop1


I think with Dr. Kevorkian's recent passing, this is a topic that needs light shed upon it. I know it is an upsetting sight to watch someone die right on tv, but what terry Pratchett is showing us is important. People who are suffering from a terminal illness deserve to be released, if this is what they chose. I think some ppl are so upset by this gruesome topic because it is too hard to think about, too horrible, but consider that because of a few scared ppl , victims of deadly diseases suffer with no help to escape it all. What is truly horrible is to suffer a long and slow painful death. We need to be open minded enough to understand sometimes death brings sweet mercy.

bit of info on Pratchett
telegraph, news on terry pratchett

And bellow is an article in the new york times to give a little background on Kevorkian and why his practice was controversial

Dr. Kevorkian

My sister did hospice work for ladies in their last days battling cancer. She would tell me the grief it brought her to watch them slipping away, scared and tortured with pain. Even after they were gone and she no longer cared for them, she was tortured with the memory of their ordeals. Often these patients would become more and more disoriented due to the high dosages of pain medication, so their last days are spent in a frightening blur, where, she told me, they often didn't know where they were or who she was.

The msg that Dr. Kevorkian and Terry Pratchett are trying to spread is a valid one, don't turn away because you are scared, one day maybe you may find yourself doing the mercy killing. Or would you let your buddy slowly rot away from a gangrenous limb because you were too scared to consider reality?

Originally posted by Misterlondon

Originally posted by CastleMadeOfSand
I didn't watch for obvious reasons....but what does suicide have to do with this?

The title of the second vid says "live natural death"?

Any details would be greatly appreciated

the guy is a famous author terry prachett.. he has an incurable disease and is suffering. he goes to switzerland for legal euthanasia (Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering)
the bbc showe the process on tv tonight including the death of him...
i didnt actually watch it but i think this is what it is about..

edit to add link of article from the telegraph explaining the story..
telegraph article

edit on 13/6/11 by Misterlondon because: (no reason given)

Terry himself didn't die in this but the film is about the right to choose death and why it should be legal in the UK..

I don't see how that video is upsetting (unless you're a friend or relative of the man). BTW - it's not a video of Terry Pratchett (as he's still alive as far as I know).

If anything, it's reassuring. To die peacefully at 80 years of age in a warm bed, surrounded by family doesn't sound too scary to me. The tragedy is that a lot of people don't get such a 'graceful exit'.

reply to post by FOXMULDER147


Thats what we can all hope for and I think we all should get. When I saw my grandmother go through it, I saw.....I dont know how to call it, lets just say "internal fight" going on. The majority of ouir family was out west and it was expected she was going to pass away the same day she went into the hospital. It took my family awhile to all get assembled at the hospital. For those 7 days I saw my grandmother in that unconscious state and only breathing once every 30 seconds or so, heart pounding trying to supply oxygen ( a woman with heart condition already and suffered a few heart attacks) and she passed 5 minutes after every single one of us were at that hospital. I had walked in again after a trip home to shower and eat that day and my last uncle arrived shortly before. I still think (or maybe want to believe) that my grandmothers wish was to have us near her at the end and she struggled to make that happen (how, i dont know thats another topic). From that point on I vow not to let anyone I love in my life die alone. THAT is a worse fate then death itself.

I 100% believe that people with a terminal illness should be allowed to have this choice,
I sadly have had to watch a family member die from an incurable illness and believe me its not pleasant in any form,

Before experiencing that i would have been on the border line with my thoughts, but after living through it i see with new eyes on this kind of thing,

However.... anything less that an incurable illness i think really would have to be done by a case by case matter,
everyone is different and quality of life depending on certain illness's are also different,

Maybe a court could be held for people who wish to come to this end, with the doctors and other members of the medical field,

As for it being shown on TV... It makes me feel sad that people have to go to such lengths to make the world understand the suffering of terminal illness's,

We see births on TV so i guess in someways we should not be hidden from the truths of death also.

Its a hard one and maybe there is no right or wrong, just a personal opinion on what you and your own needs would be,

I cant imagine the strength it much take for a person to go to one of these clinics,

reply to post by topherman420

That's good.

Actually, you hear of it happening a lot, people hanging on until relatives arrive.

Perhaps they get special permission 'from above'.

reply to post by solid007


Firstly, I just wanted to ask if you (OP) know about the origins of the 007 moniker? Either way I like the topic of your post and I commend the gentleman for embracing a beautiful thing that is death and choosing to die a certain way. The removal of his ego is what allows one to make such a decision or assertion such as....If I could die tomorrow and leave the planet in lasting peace for at least 100 years I would even if it were 50 years

Bravo! & Cheers!

-Invisible Crown- (I am because I am willing all others who make this claim must speak it from the heart)

reply to post by FOXMULDER147


Ive always wondered why it happened, im not a firm believer in an after life so it was a...confusing experience for me. Interesting to know it happens often. Ive often wondered if there was some sort of genetic trait we have that makes that happen, like a need for human companionship in times like that, or even how aware one is when they have hit that stage to even be able to fight the ticking clock. Death is scary still to me but very much more amazing now in the same respect.

Ill share my own experience with you all and a reason that i do wish there was a choice to do this,

My grandmother was very ill "terminally" after suffering 2 strokes and pneumonia, I was called in to the doctors office to be told that there was nothing more they could do for her, Even though she was still aware of her surroundings and able to talk a little,

there plan was to implement no food and no water and stop all medication other than giving her pain relief...
This process can take up to 4 days till the person passes away. ( I fought against this but overruled by doctors)

To sit there at my grandmothers side only a few months ago and have her ask me for a drink and tell me she was hungry was one of the most traumatizing moments i have ever been through,

All i could do was hold her and stay by her bed until the moment when she slipped away from me,

Believe me i would have not even let my dog pass that way,
She would not have wanted to go through those last few days wondering why she could not have a drink or have some food,

If the choice had of been there in my case i think i would have had no issue at all in stopping that kind of suffering in the last few days,

It does make me wonder why something like "no food or drink" can be implemented but putting a human to sleep is not,

Again its a case by case issue, but something needs to be looked in to either way,

reply to post by asala


Hun I'm sorry to hear they thought starving her was more humane...and I am deeply sorry you had to see it done.

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We all die, but I dont hugely have a desire to watch someone else die on tv, believe me its enough to watch a loved one pass in your own life time.