The Suicide Tourist

This is a a portrait of the final days of an American with ALS who pursues physician-assisted suicide in the one place where it's legal for foreigners to come to end their lives: Switzerland. With unique access to Dignitas, the Swiss nonprofit that has helped more than 1,000 people die since 1998, The Suicide Tourist follows Craig Ewert as he debates the morality -- and confronts the reality -- of choosing to die before his disease further ravages his body, and he loses the option to die without unbearable suffering.

You Tube link to the PBS/Frontline The Suicide Tourist (First aired in 2007, 52 minutes)

Synopsis.

Glenn's Last Tape

When Glenn Scott, a Canadian lecturer, learnt that he had motor neurone disease (ALS) with its inevitably distressing endpoint, he decided to commit suicide in the city he loved most, Rome. He would have preferred the help of a doctor to end his life when he could no longer help himself, but this was illegal in most countries, so he had to devise a plan to kill himself while he still had the ability to mix the cocktail of lethal drugs and drink it.

To draw attention to what he saw as the unfairness of the current laws on euthanasia, he enlisted the help of actor, Miriam Margolyes, and documentary director, Karl Sabbagh, to make this documentary - Glenn's Last Tape - that has never been seen before in the 15 years since Glenn's death, which was recorded on a camera he had set up and seen here in the final moments of this documentary.

The video is 38 minutes.

Screen Shot from the video

Tuesdays With Morrie

Lindsay Lincoln recommended this gem.  I read it when it first came out in 1997.  It is a memorable story that is speaks to the philosophy behind this course.

Synopsis from Wikipedia:

Newspaper sports columnist Mitch Albom recounts the time spent with his 78-year-old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, at Brandeis University, who was dying from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Albom, a former student of Schwartz, had not corresponded with him since attending his college classes 16 years earlier. The first three chapters incorporate an ambiguous introduction to the final conversation between Albom and Schwartz, a brief flashback to Albom's graduation, and an account of the events Albom experienced between graduation and the reunion with his professor. The name Morrie comes from its meaning in Hebrew (mori מורי), which means "my teacher."

Albom is a successful sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press despite his childhood dream of being a pianist. After seeing Schwartz on Nightline, Albom called Schwartz, who remembered his former pupil despite the lapse of 16 years. Albom was prompted to travel from Michigan to Massachusetts to visit Schwartz. A newspaper strike frees Albom to commute weekly, on Tuesdays, to visit with Schwartz. The resulting book is based on these fourteen Tuesdays they meet, supplemented with Schwartz's lectures and life experiences and interspersed with flashbacks and allusions to contemporary events.