Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die Page #3

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'was in order to protect his wife.'

The law regarding assisted dying

is not entirely clear-cut.

If you do help somebody

to commit suicide...

..you may be prosecuted.

If your motive was love

or compassion, then this

will be taken into account.

However, it remains illegal.

OK, Rob?

'In mainland Europe,

they do things differently.'

'In Belgium, assisted death

has been legal since 2002.'

I'm going today

to see the widow of Hugo Claus,

a very popular author in Belgium.

'He chose an assisted death.

'He had Alzheimer's.'

INAUDIBLE:

Hello. Hello. Hello. Veerle?

Nice to meet you, please come in.

Thank you very much indeed.

At a certain moment, my husband

realised that there was

something going wrong.

In the beginning,

he just tried to hide it... Yes.

..and I saw it,

but I pretended that I didn't.

You start making all the little

excuses, don't you? Yes, of course,

of course.

You say, "Everybody loses the car

keys..." Yes, yes.

..but you realise that not

everybody loses the car. Mm-hm.

What was it that gave him the clue

that something was wrong?

He started to mix up words.

And since words were his

core business, that frightened him.

And then I remember he said to me,

"If I have Alzheimer's, I will not

go on living till the bitter end -

"I will put an end to myself."

But he wanted

to write another book.

He said, "When I finish the book,

I will take the decision

"and I will die, but I first have

to finish the book."

If you're working on a book,

you'll keep going. Yes.

But he couldn't finish the book.

He had not the skill any more.

Were you with him when he died?

Yes. We went to the hospital.

And I remember I brought a very

good bottle of champagne with me

and I even brought some cigarettes,

and it's not allowed to smoke,

but I thought maybe

he wants have a last cigarette.

And when his cigarette was finished,

and we stopped talking,

he said,

"I think now I want to lie down."

I laid myself next to him

and I held him.

And I sung a song for him,

and he started singing with me

and...

..he died singing.

Yes.

I often think of that moment,

of course,

and it makes me sad, but,

in a way, I was glad for my husband.

Of course,

it was terrible, because I miss him.

It was so intense and so warm.

And how can people be against it?

I don't understand. Quite.

May I thank you very much

and give you a kiss?

I wish you...

luck. Thank you.

I think I'm going

to need a considerable amount. Yes.

I shall remember you.

I shall remember you. Thank you.

What an astonishing lady.

I can't tell you

how good it was to talk to her.

My wife will not object

to my ultimate decision.

I rather...

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