A confronting report in which fit and healthy elderly Australians reveal plans to take their own lives before they lose their independence. They are among an increasingly activist minority of elderly Australians who say they will commit suicide before they are overtaken by frailty, illness or dependence. Such a radical step, they claim, is a final act of self-determination and a human right. Some doctors and ethicists are disturbed by what they see as the extremism of elderly people deciding to commit suicide. They worry that it reflects a growing view that to be old and in need of care is to lack dignity, to be a burden on society.
