Health

The horrific euthanasia video coming to your Facebook feed

Sep 14, 2017

Assisted suicide is a hard topic to talk about, but does a graphic movie change this?

It’s a real-life horror movie, so to speak, and it’s coming to your social media.

A graphic short film, five minutes in length, features a 56-year-old Victorian man in obviously excruciating pain, and it will be doing the rounds of social media while the Victorian Government debate the topic of assisted suicide. In the short film the man has convulsions, he’s in fits of rage, and he’s in hospital. And it’s real, based on true events.

It’s been called graphic, disturbing and offensive; and it was made by Go Gentle Australia, an organisation established to help relieve the distress, helplessness and suffering experienced by Australians with untreatable or terminal illnesses, their families and carers.

Stop the Horror is aimed to to highlight a push for voluntary euthanasia, but it’s so graphic it’s not even able to be shown on YouTube. It does come with a warning, that it’s only suitable for those over the age of 18, and it also comes with a stop button at the bottom of the screen, if it gets too much for viewers.

The Age reports a Go Gentle spokesperson said the movie dealt with unimaginable pain and despair.

“It has been designed to be virtually unwatchable,” the spokesperson told The Age. “The film confronts viewers with a harrowing retelling of the true events surrounding one man’s traumatic death.”