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Final Exit

A documentary about assisted suicide

2014, 102 Min. (plus 45 Min. Bonus)
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DVD Kauf 32,- EUR | Ausleihe 20,- EUR | Preis V & Ö 95,- EUR

‘We've had over 90 years here on earth and we've spent 59 of those together. We have now decided to take the last step together as well. We will go to Switzerland on the 15th of January to end our lives. We thank you for the good times we had together and send you our best wishes one last time.’

This is what the Kasslers, a couple who lived in a catholic nursing home in the Black Forest and who had been suffering for many years from chronic, worsening multimorbidity wrote in their farewell letter to their friends. In January 2014 they took their own lives in an assisted suicide in Switzerland. ‘Our life has been good. None of us should have to live alone. We’ve had so many years together, that’s a blessing. Now it should end together.‘ This film accompanies the couple in their decision until their death.

‘Death is a part of life’ says Swiss physician Dr Erika Preisig who provides palliative care as well as suicide assistance. ‘And a part of life could also be a good death, a nice death. Maybe a planned death. For me the thought of planning your death is still, even today, quite unusual. But we can’t escape death so why do we have to cling to life and try to drag it on and on in suffering. It’s not as if we can't do anything about it; at least we can try to grant a person a peaceful death surrounded by their loved ones.’

Apart from showing the process of the Kassler’s assisted suicide and extensive interviewing of their assisting physician Dr Erika Preisig, this film also provides a platform to let other people speak who are suffering from chronic, life-shortening illnesses and who are considering taking their own lives. There is an interview with Munich lawyer Wolfgang Putz who explains the legal situation concerning assisted suicide in Germany. Several German suicide assisting physicians are also interviewed about their motivation and experiences.

The aim of this film is to provide information as well as to encourage social and political discourse in Germany about assisted suicide, particularly physician-assisted suicide, by showing the perspective of the people it actually concerns: Help-seeking patients suffering from illnesses and the suicide assistants themselves.

Extras:

Netherlands: Interview with Petra de Jong, Nederlandse Vereniging voor een Vrijwillig Levenseinde (NVVE), Amsterdam.
USA: Interview with Richard MacDonald, M.D., leading figure of the American Death with Dignity movement, Senior Medical Advisor Final Exit Network.