End-of-Life Decision-Making: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide under Debate in Jojo Moyes' and Thea Sharrock's ME AFTER YOU

Abstract

At a certain stage in our existence, death will inevitably come to us all. Euthanasia and assisted suicide raise issues and pose questions that cannot be answered from the perspective of medicine alone. Disciplines such as bioethics, philosophy, and even literature and cinema also offer compelling frameworks from which to address such a complex phenomenon. The present paper explores the notions of euthanasia and assisted suicide through the lens of a contemporary British novel and its cinematic adaptation: Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You (2012), which was brought to the big screen by Thea Sharrock and released four years later in the UK. As has occurred with other writings and films that will be referenced, the novel and its adaptation provoked opposing reactions—many of them controversial. Is death a private choice in which no one but ourselves should interfere?