Cosmologist Stephen Hawking backs right to assisted suicide

British cosmologist Stephen Hawking has backed the right for people who are terminally ill to choose to end their lives and to receive help to do so as long as safeguards are in place.

Speaking ahead of the release of a documentary about his life,Hawking said he backed the right to die but only if the person involved had chosen that route. He recalled how he was once put on a life support machine and his wife was given the option of switching off the machine but this is not something he wanted.

“I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives,and those who help them should be free from prosecution,” Hawking said.