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Three and a half years ago, Terry Pratchett, the beloved author of the Discworld series, announced that he has early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Now he's made an even more startling announcement. Pratchett, who has campaigned in his native United Kingdom for the right of assisted suicide, has begun the formal process of assisted suicide in Switzerland, one of the few countries in the world to legalize euthanasia. Specifically, this would take place at Dignitas, a clinic that provides qualified doctors and nurses to assist with the patients' suicides. Dignitas has sent Pratchett the paperwork he needs to sign to begin the...

Sir Terry said he would be happy to accept help from the medical profession. He said he had no doubt that there were people with a 'passion for caring', but asked them to accept there are people 'who have a burning passion not to need to be cared for'.

My name is Terry Pratchett, author of a series of inexplicably successful fantasy books and I have had Alzheimer's now for the past two years plus, in which time I managed to write a couple of bestsellers. I have a rare variant. I don't understand very much about it, but apparently if you are going to have Alzheimer's it's a good one to have. So, a stroke of luck there then! Interestingly enough, when I was diagnosed last December by those nice people at Addenbrooke's, I started a very different journey through dementia. This one had much better scenery, interesting...