BBC broadcaster John Simpson says he plans to commit suicide rather than allow young son to see him as a 'gibbering wreck' in old age

BBC broadcaster John Simpson says he plans to commit suicide rather than allow young son to see him as a 'gibbering wreck' in old age

Simpson, 67, said that he had acquired pills which would allow him to commit suicide, should he ever become so inacapacitated that he loses control of his physical and mental faculties.

The BBC World Affairs Editor said he was not advocating euthanasia as a public policy. But he did not see why MPs should prevent him from taking the ultimate decision over his own life.

Simpson, who has a six year-old son with second wife Dee Kruger, spent four days at a residential care home, living alongside Alzheimer’s disease sufferers, for a BBC1 documentary, When I Get Older.

At a screening of the film, he said: “I’m already working on ways of ensuring that I don’t end up dependent on someone else. I have a couple of bottles of pills handy. I’m not advocating it for anyone else.”

“I don’t want my 6 year-old son to have his only memory of me as a gibbering wreck. I’d rather take an early ‘out’ than just hang on for the sake of keeping on br eathing and all the other bodily functions.”

In the BBC film, broadcast in two parts next Wednesday and Thursday, Mr Simpson breaks down in tears when he confronts the idea that he may be too infirm to play rugby with his son Rafe, when he is a teenager. He discloses his plan to take fatal pills on screen, after living alongside residents suffering dementia at the home.

His experience inside the care home convinced the BBC correspondent that he could live his remaining days inside such an environment, if he retained control over his faculties. Mr Simpson praised the nursing care he observed being given to the residents. He believes that society will ultimately allocate considerably more resources to care for the elderly over the next 30 years because of the demographic shift towards an ageing society.

Mr Simpson’s revelation follows a BBC documentary in which author Sir Terry Pratchett, a sufferer from early-onset of Alzheimer’s, followed a 71 year-ol d motorâ€"neurone sufferer who went to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to end his life.

Sir Terry said the “vast majority” of people in Britain supported assisted suicide and revealed that he had begun the formal process of applying to end his own life at the clinic.

Mr Simpson’s disclosure will be broadcast during a primetime BBC1 season looking at the reality of life for older people in Britain and the choices that the elderly have to make. The BBC journalist joined other “OAP celebrities” Gloria Hunniford, Tony Robinson and actress Lesley Joseph, who spent time inside care homes. Ms Hunniford said she had allocated financial resources to ensure that she could live in her own home even if she becomes infirm. She said her aim would ultimately be to die at peace inside her own home.

Ms Hunniford expressed concern at cuts in staffing levels at residential care homes, citing the treatment of her sister, a dementia sufferer, who had to be taken to hospital and rehydrated on six occasions because of neglect at her care home. The broadcaster said: "When push came to shove there wasn't enough nursing staff to make sure she ate and drank the fundamentals. It's a huge problem."