Last Flight Home

Hi, Dad.

Aww, I love you, too, Daddy.

- Sorry, who am I speaking with?

- You're speaking with Eli's daughter Ondi.

- Ondi, yes, hi. What is his baseline?

- Well, he was brought to the hospital

because he was having a hard time breathing,

but he's been struggling for a long time.

You know, he's been paralyzed for 40 years

from an accidental stroke.

- I know. I read that, such a shame.

Yet, he never complains.

And he thinks about everybody else.

He even struggles to walk by himself

because he doesn't wanna be a burden,

but he keeps falling.

Mm-hmm.

- It's a miracle he hasn't broken anything yet.

We feel like it's just not safe

for him to be home anymore.

Definitely, yes.

- It breaks my heart because he really wants to come home.

He really does.

No.

- Because you've been in bed for five days or something,

you need care.

You need people to help you move

and all that kind of stuff.

- You know, I have a plan. You want to hear my plan?

- I'm gonna ask the doctor when they're releasing you,

and then I'm gonna run to the hospital

and grab you for a kiss and a hug

and find out exactly where you're going,

and then I'm gonna work on-- hopefully,

there'll be a different COVID protocol where you're going,

and then we'll be able to visit.

That's my plan.

Okay, good.

- Did you try to call me, Daddy?

Are you okay?

You're waiting to die?

- I thought you were waiting to see me today.

- I didn't know you wanted to die.

That's--

- Being inside your body is what's torturing you now.

It's gotta get recycled.

- But your mind will travel on, and so every time--

Every time you're feeling--

I'm doing it, Daddy.

- For it to be legal, Dad, you have to tell

a nurse or a doctor who's working in hospice.

- No, no, no, when you're in hospice,

once you start, which will be tomorrow.

Eli, listen.

You don't make the rules.

- Yes. - You don't make the rules.

- Daddy, you're really lucky to live in California.

Yep.

- If you were in New York, with Rachel,

you wouldn't have this option right now.

That's right.

- And, Daddy, we have to do it legally,

or we all go to jail.

You don't want that.

Exactly.

- Aww. - We understand, darling.

And we're-- - Daddy, what is the reason?

Are you in a lot of pain right now?

Oh, my God.

Hi, Daddy.

- Yeah, you're getting out today.

- End it? End your life?

- What, you think you're gonna come home,

make a poop with Cooper, and end your life?

- You know how it goes, Daddy, right?

You're gonna see the hospice nurse today,

and then you have to tell the doctor,

and then the clock starts.

- But you'll be in a much better place

'cause you'll be home.

- Yeah. - Don't you think?

It'll be less torture to be alive when you're home.

Yeah.

There we go. We got you.

We got you. We got you, Daddy.

Nobody's gonna let it happen to you, okay?

Nobody's gonna let anything happen bad to you.

Okay, nice and clean.

Let's move him in a little bit more.

You gotta pull.

Yeah, I got him.

One, two, three.

There we go.

- Ah.

- Do you feel, for any reason, that you being here

is a burden to your family or...

You know you're a burden.

So how do we feel about that?

- Well, the kids and I tell him he's not a burden.

But in my heart, it's been a very, very, very rough year.

That's why I've got a belt on.

I mean, I'm a broken woman.

- He really doesn't want to go to a home.

And he knew that the situation at home couldn't continue,

because he was, like, a fall risk,

and he was gonna break Mom in half,

like he already has broken her a lot.

He fell so many times.

And I was always calling the children to please come

and get Daddy off the floor.

- Every couple of weeks, I get a call,

maybe 11:00 at night, just gotten into bed.

I'm, like, going to sleep.

The phone rings, and it's like,

"Dad's on the floor. Come over."

It was just awful.

And it was COVID, so Ondi insisted

that we were gonna Zoom for my birthday.

I thought it was a family Zoom,

but I didn't want to Zoom.

I wanted to die.

- I didn't know she had set up dozens of friends

all over the country.

- I started to say to Eli, "I wish I was dead."

Aww.

And then I saw all of you.

Thank you so much.

- Yeah. - Wow.

Yeah.

Okay, he has to be able to take the medication himself.

You can prepare it.

You can put it in front of him.

But you can't participate in him ingesting it.

Okay.

At any time, he can change his mind.

Just because he goes through the approval process,

he can change his mind.

He could say, "You know something?

Now I know I can do it. I'm fine."

Sometimes it's knowing you have some sort of sense

of control back when you have no control.

Anyway, so Dr. Bracht is gonna come.

He's gonna assess him.

And then what happens is the time starts,

and there's a 15-day waiting period.

This whole End of Life Option Act

is still in its early stages.

And so, you know, it's really something

that opened all of our eyes about--

we don't call it assisted suicide.

We call it, you know, supporting the right

to terminate your life, right to die.

So we believe in that.

And what's interesting is what people have done

in exercising that option has been spectacular.

It's been truly amazing.

- We don't get a choice on how we come into this world,

but we should have a choice on how we go out.

Right.

- It just says, "An aid-in-dying drug

to end my life in a humane and dignified manner."

- "I, Eli Timoner, am an adult of sound mind

and a resident of the State of California."

Okay, baby.

You're gonna initial, put your "ET."

- Over here, where my finger is.

That top line. "ET."

Okay. Phone home.

On the 15th day,

Dr. Bracht will come in and do another visit.

But in between there, another doctor will come in

and either agree or disagree with Dr. Bracht

to see if it's okay to take the medication.

- There's three doctors that work with this company,

Faith & Hope, and I'm the one that...

- Does this. - Is writing the script.

- It was something that-- yeah, in my heart,

I'm okay with it.

Well, it's interesting.

Your dad has the impression that his condition is COPD.

And in all the notes that I got from the other doctors,

it's CHF, or congestive heart failure,

with COPD as well.

Your dad made the first request.

He said, well, quality of his life is "shitty."

There has to be a second request after 14 days.

Yeah.

both: It's Rachel.

Hi, hi, Dad.

You're looking good.

- He's right here in the main room.

Look. - I know, well done.

Well done. I see that.

- Yeah, now he's in the swing of things,

right in the middle of everything.

- Yeah. - Eating again, and visiting.

And he even had a sip of wine last night.

Oh, nice!

All right, it was a big day on MSNBC today.

- You want to tell Rachel how you think Trump should go out?