BBC.Documentaries.2016.02.10.How.To.Die.Simons.Choice.EN.SUB.MPEG4.x264.WEBRIP.[MPup]

BBC.Documentaries.2016.02.10.How.To.Die.Simons.Choice.EN.SUB.MPEG4.x264.WEBRIP.[MPup]

Format: MPEG-4
Size: 1280x720
DisplayAspectRatio: 16:9
FrameRate: 25.000 fps
AudioCodec: AAC
Channels: 2 channels
SamplingRate: 48.0 KHz

Simon is a successful businessman with a loving family and a large circle of friends whose world falls apart when he is diagnosed with an aggressive form of motor neurone disease and given two years to live. Within weeks of the diagnosis, the disease causes Simon to lose the use of his voice. Faced with the prospect of a rapid physical decline, Simon tells his family that he is considering ending his life at a Swiss suicide clinic.

Filmed and directed by award-winning filmmaker Rowan Deacon, and made in partnership with the Open University, this intimate and deeply moving film follows Simon and his family and friends as they grapple with the huge moral, emotional and legal dilemmas around Simon's choice. Their conflicting perspectives unearth difficult questions for Simon which mean that his heartwrenching decision is hanging in the balance until the very end.

Shot against the backdrop of the recent parliamentary debate on the assisted dying bill, Simon's remarkable story explores the complex human questions at the heart of this deeply divisive issue.



Made in partnership with The Open University, How To Die: Simon’s Choice tells the poignant story of one man facing the unimaginable decision of whether to end his life at a suicide clinic.

"I thought they'd be indifferent to the timing of my demise,” says Simon Binner in this observational documentary about his life and eventual death. “I was so wrong.”

Simon, whose story went public and became the subject of media attention following his death last year, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of motor neurone disease in January 2015 and given just two years to live.

After telling his loved ones that he was considering ending his life at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, Simon and his family and friends grapple with huge moral, emotional and legal dilemmas around his choice.

As this moving film shows, their conflicting perspectives mean that his heart wrenching decision lies in the balance until the very end.

In a British television first, the documentary gains access to Switzerland’s second largest assisted suicide clinic, the Eternal Spirit centre, where Simon initially makes an appointment to end his life on a set date - his birthday.

Simon’s final moments were filmed by medical professionals at the clinic, who are legally required to record their patients’ final decision to take the lethal dose. This has been included within the film, however it does not show the moment of death.