“24 and Ready to Die”: a documentary from Economist Films

November 10th, 2015 - The Economist released a film about the tragic case of Emily, a young Belgian woman granted the right to a doctor’s help to end her own life because of her persistent, severe depression.

It is the second in “Global Compass”, a series of mini-documentaries looking at the countries and people pioneering new approaches to persistent social problems.

• Belgium and the Netherlands are the only countries which permit doctor-assisted dying for those experiencing unbearable mental suffering

• Several American states allow doctor-assisted dying for the terminally ill, including, from next year, California.

• Majorities in 13 of the 15 countries polled by The Economist and IPSOS MORI in June support doctor-assisted dying

• The Economist has championed doctor-assisted dying in articles and editorials since the 1990s, including most recently a cover story in June this year

• The Economist ran a video advert in London in September and Berlin earlier this month asking: “Could you live a life like this?” to encourage people to start talking about the right to die

The film can be viewed at www.economist.com/films. Data from the surveys are available to view, along with a range of articles and multimedia, on The Economist’s doctor-assisted-dying hub at www.economist.com/assisted-dying