05:53 ET<\/span><\/span><\/p>\nActor Sir Patrick Stewart has spoken about his decision to become a patron of an organisation campaigning to legalise assisted suicide in the UK.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Sunday Times, the 70-year-old said the choice to have an assisted death “should be a right”.<\/p>\n
“Should the time come for me… I would like there to be a choice I might make about how I die,” he continued.<\/p>\n
His comments follow those of author Sir Terry Pratchett, who is to appear in a BBC documentary about assisted suicide.<\/p>\n
“I believe everybody possessed of a debilitating and incurable disease should be allowed to pick the hour of their death,” said the 62-year-old, who was diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer’s in 2008.<\/p>\n
News of the BBC Two programme, to be shown this summer, drew censure from the Care Not Killing organisation, which accused the BBC of “acting like a cheerleader for legalising assisted suicide”.<\/p>\n
Both Sir Patrick and Sir Terry are patrons of Dignity in Dying, which campaigns for a change in the law on assisted dying for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.<\/p>\n
Care Not Killing campaigns against any such change in legislation, promoting instead the provision of “more and better” palliative care.<\/p>\n
In his interview, Sir Patrick said his mind had been made up following a heart procedure he underwent five years ago after being diagnosed with coronary heart disease.<\/p>\n
He also mentioned a family friend who had been “driven to an extreme situation of ending their life in the most ghastly way”.<\/p>\n
Last year a UK inquiry into the issue of assisted suicide was launched with funding from Sir Terry.<\/p>\n
Chaired by former justice secretary Lord Falconer, the Commission on Assisted Dying is expected to publish its findings in December.<\/p>\n
Best known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Sir Patrick has also been seen in the X-Men films.<\/p>\n
Later this year he will play Shylock in The Merchant of Venice as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 50th birthday season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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