SAVES is not affiliated with Exit International / Dr Philip Nitschke and opposes the public availability of a 'peaceful pill'.

James Stewart and Bette Davis were cast as an 80-year old couple who had been told the wife had an incurable wasting disease which would mean a slow painful slide into death. After talking the matter through, they decided that suicide together was their preferred solution. Made in 1982/3, the film is not dated - the obstructions encountered are still only too common.

The couple's daughter, distraught on their informing her of their intentions and anxious to prevent them carrying it out, took the matter to the county social worker and so the couple became an official "case". The social worker called on the couple without adequately explaining to them that they were not obliged to admit her to their home or answer her questions. As her task was to gather evidence to support having them declared incompetent, their untidy living room and whimsical answers were construed in that light. Her report was followed by a visit from a further two officials armed with cameras who likewise interpreted what they saw with the same intent. The couple's daughter eventually came to see her parents' point of view but the wheels of officialdom had been set in motion and could not be reversed.

The suicide method the couple had chosen was car exhaust fumes. On Monday 19 Jan 98, a news item, "Car Exhaust Deaths on the Rise" appeared in the Melbourne "Age" to the effect that the increase had occurred despite the activities of such bodies as the Victorian Suicide Prevention Task Force. The article states that Professor Peter Vulcan, director of the Accident Research Centre at Monash University wants changes to car design to combat the rising number of such suicides. It would be interesting to know the source of funding for these bodies.

The video to be shown is "Folks" with Tom Selleck and Don Ameche, made in 1993. This will have you laughing throughout but it will also set you thinking.