104-yr-old Australian scientist ends life in Switzerland

Geneva:  A 104-year-old Australian scientist, David Goodall, who travelled to Switzerland to end his life, committed assisted suicide yesterday, the Foundation which helped him die said. Goodall, who had been barred from seeking help to end his life in his home country, did not have a terminal illness but said his quality of life had deteriorated significantly and that he wanted to die. Goodall “died peacefully” in Basel, tweeted Philip Nitschke, founder of Exit International, the organisation which helped Goodall take his own life. The death occurred at 10.30 GMT from an infusion of Nembutal, a barbiturate, he said. “I greatly regret having reached that age. I would much prefer to be 20 or 30 years younger,” Goodall told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on his 104th birthday on May 2. When asked whether he had a nice birthday, he told the news organisation: “No, I’m not happy. I want to die. ... It’s not sad, particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented.” The lauded London-born ecologist and botanist, who was not terminally ill, said the decision had been driven by his deteriorating quality of life. Shortly before his death, he said he was “happy to end” his life. “My life has been rather poor for the past year or so and I’m very happy to end it,” he said, surrounded by several family members. “All the publicity that this has been receiving can only, I think, help the cause of euthanasia for the elderly, which I want.” He was visibly frustrated by the process of formal paperwork, and Nitschke later said: “In fact his last words were ‘This is taking an awfully long time!’” Goodall’s last meal was his favourite fish and chips and cheesecake  and in his final minutes he was played Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th symphony. He wanted no funeral and requested that his body be donated to medicine or his ashes sprinkled locally, Exit International said.