Stephen Hawking Would Consider Assisted Suicide

Eminent physicist Stephen Hawking has said that he would consider the possibility of ending his life through assisted suicide but only if he felt he had become a 'burden' to his loved ones.

During an interview to the BBC, Hawking told Dara O'Briain, "To keep someone alive against their wishes is the ultimate indignity."

He added, "I would consider assisted suicide only if I were in great pain or felt I had nothing more to contribute but was just a burden to those around me."

Hawking then goes on to add that he doesn't think that day is coming any time soon and believes he has more to contribute to this world.

"I am damned if I'm going to die before I have unravelled more of the universe," he said.

Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuron disease at the age of 21 and has been confined to a wheelchair for decades. He manages to communicate with others with the help of a speech synthesiser.

During the interview, Hawking also spoke about it how it can get lonely sometimes "because people are afraid to talk to me or don't wait for me to write a response."

Assisted suicide in Britain is currently banned in the UK even as the physicist has been an outspoken advocate of it in the past.

During a 2013 interview, he likened assisted suicide to the humane euthanasia of animals and asked "We don't let animals suffer, so why humans?"