‘The Suicide Plan’ is a ninety minute documentary film that reflects the shadows of assisted suicides. The main focus of the movie revolves round incidents that dictate underground actualities people who assist others to make an end to their lives. The movie portrays personal stories to establish its relevance with the frequency of the suicides around the United States. Assisted suicide is illegal in almost all the states.
The Suicide Plan is directed, produced and written by Miri Navasky and Karen O'Connor. It represents a vital conversation which is directly linked with the humanity itself. It is worth to watch, and discuss the ethical allegations made by the interpretation and portrayal of the content and the characters itself.
The documentary represents three individual characters with their personal stories. The two people expedited suicide as individuals. The third one is a seriously ill woman who prepares to end her life. Compassion and choices, a largest assisted suicide organization in the United States with a decent repute, provide systematic support, instructions and supervision of consultants to assist her suicide plan.
The documentary evokes importance of the job that is being carried out by the members of the organization (or others) who assist the people in ending their lives. The movie represents only the people who were directly involved in assisting the suicides. This puts a question mark on the wider ethical concerns that the film represents. The ethical dogma of humanity can probe into the significance of such steps that causes an end to a life. Strictly speaking, the film promotes a sensation of ‘persuaded suicide’ or ‘induced murder.’ The content and representation of the documentary puts it in a loop, and makes it accountable for inappropriate guidance for a person to end his or her misery.
Barbara Coombs Lee belongs to Compassion and Choices claims that the ‘counselling program’ is quite facilitating the people to commit suicide, and it is austerely controlled and limited to critically ill people. There arises a question whether only the end of one’s life is the only way to get him or her wisdom? Does not such guidance to death create chaos in the minds of the people who are strongly attached to their ill ones? There are certain things that Compassion and Choices or Final Exit Network (FEN) still need ethical dogma to address to make this cause a valid one.
The film represents an interesting case of Final Exit Network (FEN) that involved a sting operation by Georgia Bureau of investigation (GBI), in which a man (GBI agent) pretended to be dying of cancer. The ethical allegations were found synchronising with the accusations made by the FEN members.
The most important element that the film represents is its relevance with the perception of the people who refer suicide and the people who assist such practice. The ethical constraints may put some restriction on its implementation but, do the organizations like Compassion and Choices or Final Exit Network (FEN) really perform a thankful effort.
References:
Poyser, Jim. TV Review: PBS's 'The Suicide Plan.' NUVO. Indy’s Alternative Voice. Rerieved on: 08 December, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.nuvo.net/indianapolis/tv-review-pbss-the-suicide-plan/Content?oid=2508019
