NO REGRETS: 104-yr-old man explains why he is ending his life at a Swiss suicide clinic

David Goodall, 104, reacts during a news conference a day before he intends to take his own life in assisted suicide (REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth)

British-born academic Dr David Goodall has explained why he has chosen to end his own life at the age of 104.

Dr Goodall, who was born in Britain but lived for much of his life in Australia, travelled to Switzerland to visit a euthanasia clinic, also known as the “The Swiss Option”.


Wearing a sweatshirt with the slogan ‘Ageing Disgracefully’, he addressed a press conference Wednesday on the eve of his death to explain his decision.

“I am rather surprised at the wide internet in my case. I am very appreciative of the hospitality of the Swiss federation and the ability which one has here to come to an end gracefully,” he told reporters.

‘I am happy to have this chance, though I would have preferred to have had it in Australia, and I greatly regret that Australia is behind Switzerland in this move, and that most countries are in fact behind Switzerland.

‘One wants at my age, and even rather less than my age, one wants to be free to chose their death at an appropriate time.

‘My abilities have been declining over the past year or two – well my eyesight has for the past five or six years.


‘I no longer want to continue life. I am happy to have the chance tomorrow(May 10) to end it and i appreciate the help of the medical profession here in making that possible.’

He assured the gathered press that he had no regrets about the decision he had made.

Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since the 1940s, if performed by someone with no direct interest in the death.

The Netherlands legalised euthanasia in 2002 for patients considered to be suffering unbearable pain with no cure.

In many countries, however, physician-assisted suicide or euthanasia are illegal.