Reporters Jeremy James, Jeanne La Chard, John Pitman, Desmond Wilcox, Harold Williamson

This week: The Right Time to Die
We can keep people alive these days longer than ever before. Advances in medicine enable us to prolong the existence of old people for years, even those who are infirm, incontinent and incapacitated. New techniques enable doctors to hold on to badly injured patients where previously death would have been a certainty.
But how many times should doctors cure - only to prolong a dwindling existence? And should it be doctors who have to decide? There are those who demand what is known as voluntary euthanasia, claim the right to decide when they, or their loved ones, shall die. Some doctors agree with them. Most doctors will admit that huge doses of pain-killing drugs, used in cases of terminal disease, can have the effect of 'shortening life.' But is that just another phrase for 'killing the patient'? Do any of us have the right to decide when it is time to die?
This programme was first transmitted six months ago. Since that time people suffering from incurable diseases have written to Man Alive expressing their opinions in this debate: Jeremy James talks to some of them.