Australian Story

My Conscience Tells Me (21x6)

Fecha de emisión: Mar 07, 2016

When Dr Rodney Syme was unable to alleviate the unbearable pain suffered by a cancer patient many years ago, it triggered what he calls his "epiphany". "I could hear her screaming, as I entered the foyer of the hospital," he says, "and there was nothing we could do to relieve her agony. That had the most profound effect on me." For more than two decades Dr Syme has campaigned to legalise voluntary euthanasia for the terminally ill. He also continues to counsel and help people, like former corporate boss Bernard who has tongue and lung cancer, and has recently planned his own funeral and hosted his own living wake. It's an issue that polarises the medical community. "I think in the euthanasia debate everyone's searching for a line beyond which we can all agree that someone's life is not worth living and I think that line is always arbitrary and it's not a line, it's a cliff," says physician Dr Karen Hitchcock. But at 80 years of age, Dr Syme believes time is running out to achieve his goal of changing the law and he's decided to risk all, even if it means going to prison.