104-year-old Australian scientist David Goodall sits in a wheelchair beside Carol O'Neil, an Australian nurse who has been caring for Goodall and who is a volunteer with the nonprofit, right-to-die group... (Associated Press) 
 
 GENEVA (AP) — A 104-year-old British-born Australian scientist who is planning to kill himself on Thursday says he doesn't think the drugs used for assisted suicide should be available to just anyone, but that doctors should be able to prescribe them. 
 
 In an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press just two days before he plans to take advantage of Switzerland's assisted-suicide laws, David Goodall spoke of his determination to end his life. He also talked about his disbelief in the afterlife, his childhood after being born the year World War I began and his family, who lives across three continents. 
 
 Goodall, described by the right-to-die group Exit International as its first member, said he's been contemplating the idea of suicide for about 20 years, but only started thinking about if for himself after his quality of life deteriorated over the last year. He cited a lack of mobility, doctor's restrictions and an Australian law prohibiting him from taking his own life among his complaints, but he is not ill. 
 
 Goodall, a botanist, said he tried clumsily to take his life himself at least three times — and then finally decided to get professional help. He has been looking to draw attention to his desire to end his life in hopes that countries like Australia change their laws to be more accepting of assisted suicide. 
 
 Hundreds of people — some far more frail than Goodall, who uses a wheelchair — travel to Switzerland every year to take their lives. The best-known group to help foreigners end their days in the Alpine country is Dignitas, but others include Life Circle in Basel — Goodall's choice. 
 
 Goodall has a libertarian bent but he knows that some religious people — which he is not — might take exception to not letting nature take its course. 
 
 "If people for religious purposes interfere with the free will of other people, I think that's most regrettable. By all means, let them follow their own choice in respect to the end of life, but don't impose it on other people," he said from his hotel room near Basel's Spalentor tower gate. 
 
 Doctors say Goodall plans to take his life with an injection of the barbiturate pentobarbitol, a chemical often used as an anesthetic but which is lethal at excessive doses. Those who take their lives through assisted suicide in Switzerland often get injections 15 times greater than that of typical medical doses for anesthesia, said Dr. Christian Weber, a Swiss anesthesiologist who will help set up Goodall for his suicide on Thursday. 
 
 Goodall said after reaching middle age, people should be allowed to decide themselves whether to use medicine to take their own lives. 
 
 "I wouldn't suggest that it's available to everyone, and just going and buying it off the shelf," he said. "I think there are plenty of people who might misuse that. But I would accept that it should be done by doctors' prescription — but they should be free to prescribe." ||||| Basel, Switzerland (CNN) A 104-year-old Australian scientist who is set to end his life at a clinic in Switzerland later this week told CNN that his life was no longer worth living and said he hoped his story would lead to the legalization of assisted dying in other countries. 
 
 David Goodall, a respected botanist and ecologist, is due to die at the Life Circle clinic in Basel on Thursday, after traveling to Europe from his home town of Perth, Australia earlier this month. 
 
 The grandfather-of-12 and longtime member of pro-euthanasia group Exit International said his life stopped being enjoyable "five or 10 years ago," in part because of his failing mobility and eyesight. 
 
 "My life has been out in the field (working), but I can't go out in the field now," said Goodall, who must be pushed everywhere in a wheelchair, during an exclusive interview with CNN in his hotel in Basel on Tuesday. 
 
 "I would love to be able to walk into the bush again, and see what is all around me," said the father-of-four, who during his long life has had three wives and moved to Australia from London as a child. 
 
 "I could still enjoy birdsong," he added. "But my lack of vision would seriously impair it." 
 
 Goodall said he would have preferred to have died when he lost his driver's license in 1998, adding that the loss of independence at 94 was a big moment in his life. 
 
 "At my age, I get up in the morning. I eat breakfast. And then I just sit until lunchtime. Then I have a bit of lunch and just sit. What's the use of that?" said the scientist, who flew business class to Europe earlier this month after supporters raised $20,000 for his campaign. 
 
 Fighting 'cruel' laws 
 
 Several US states have a form of physician-assisted suicide, as do a small number of countries including Japan, Belgium and Switzerland. 
 
 Goodall receiving his Order of Australia in 2016. 
 
 Goodall attempted to take his own life a few weeks ago but ended up waking up in hospital instead, where doctors judged that he was a risk to himself. He was only discharged after an independent psychiatric review commissioned by his daughter. 
 
 The scientist described his treatment as "cruel," adding, "they oblige one to stay alive, when one hasn't got anything to live for." 
 
 Goodall said he felt "resentful" that he had to travel to Switzerland to die, and hoped that his story would lead the Western Australian government to change its laws. 
 
 "I'm looking forward to it," he said of his death in two days time. "I'm happy that this period beforehand has been used to interview me, and I've brought the ideas of euthanasia to light." 
 
 "What I would like is for other countries to follow Switzerland's lead and make these facilities available to all clients, if they meet the requirements, and the requirements not just of age, but of mental capacity." 
 
 Goodall at work in the 1950s 
 
 Goodall: I don't fear death 
 
 Goodall said he did not fear death, but instead will "welcome it when it comes." 
 
 "The process of dying can be rather unpleasant, but it need not be -- and I hope it won't be for me," he said. 
 
 On Thursday, doctors will place a intravenous needle filled with sodium pentobarbital into Goodall's arm and he will administer the lethal drug himself. 
 
 The bed at the Life Circle clinic in Basel where Goodall will end his life. 
 
 The lethal drugs Goodall will administer. 
 
 Exit International founder Philip Nitschke told CNN earlier in May that the option of traveling to Switzerland for medically assisted suicide was open to anyone, provided they had sound reason and fulfilled certain criteria. 
 
 "My belief is that any rational adult should have the ability to access the drugs which would give them a peaceful, reliable death," said Nitschke, whose organization was instrumental in helping Goodall organize the trip. 
 
 Aging 'disgracefully' 
 
 While a little hard of hearing, and reliant on Nitschke to push his wheelchair, Goodall appeared to have lost none of his sense of humor on Tuesday, wearing a top inscribed with the words "Aging Disgracefully." 
 
 Born in London in April 1914, just months before the outbreak of World War I, Goodall said he remembered "creeping under a table in northern London suburbs to escape the air bombs being dropped." 
 
 Goodall pictured in his hotel room on Tuesday 
 
 The respected botanist and ecologist went on to hold academic positions across the world, including in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. 
 
 After his retirement in 1979, Goodall edited a 30-volume series entitled Ecosystems of the World, written by more than 500 authors. In 2016, the professor was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia Medal. 
 
 Some of his happiest memories of his life included his many trips abroad, including to Fiji and Sweden. 
 
 His advice for young people on how to live a good life was "to take whatever opportunities arise -- as long as those opportunities don't involve harm to other people." 
 
 When asked what his final thought would be before his life ends on Thursday, Goodall was sharp as ever. 
 
 "I'll be thinking about the needle and hoping they aim right!" he replied. ||||| Academic David Goodall has confirmed he plans to fly to Europe this week to end his life, but he resents the fact that he has been left with no other choice. 
 
 After repeated failed attempts at suicide over the past 12 months, the 104-year-old has made the decision to travel to Switzerland, where voluntary assisted dying is legal. 
 
 Dr Goodall will fly to Bordeaux on Wednesday to visit family before making his final journey to the Swiss city of Basel, where an end of life clinic has approved his application to die through voluntary euthanasia. 
 
 He will be accompanied by a representative from euthanasia advocacy group Exit International, which has raised almost $20,000 to cover his travel costs. 
 
 “I don’t want to go to Switzerland, though it’s a nice country,” Dr Goodall said. 
 
 “But I have to do that in order to get the opportunity of suicide which the Australian system does not permit. 
 
 “I feel very resentful.” 
 
 Dr Goodall made international headlines in 2016 when, at the age of 102, the university where he served as an honorary research associate ordered he vacate his office because he was a safety risk to himself. 
 
 He challenged the decision and, after much public backlash, it was reversed. 
 
 Drawn-out goodbye an ‘unsatisfactory’ end 
 
 In recent years the renowned academic’s physical condition has continued to deteriorate, along with his quality of life. 
 
 He said he appreciated the public’s interest in his plight and hoped it would spark more discussion about the issue of voluntary euthanasia. 
 
 “I would like them to understand it,” he said. 
 
 “I am 104 years old so I haven’t got much time left anyway. 
 
 “I might as well not have (my health) getting worse and worse, making me unhappy as it goes.” 
 
 Dr Goodall said he had the support of his family, with whom he’d had frank conversations about his decision. 
 
 “I’m saying farewell all the time,” he said. 
 
 “They realise how unsatisfactory my life here is, unsatisfactory in almost every respect. The sooner it comes to an end the better.” 
 
 
 
 Dr Goodall has been a member of Exit International for 20 years. 
 
 On his 104th birthday last month, he used the occasion to declare he would spend the rest of his days campaigning for voluntary assisted dying to be legalised in Western Australia. 
 
 “My feeling is that an old person like myself should have full citizenship rights including the right of assisted suicide,” Dr Goodall said. 
 
 “Once one is past the stage of middle life, one has paid back to society the debts that have been paid out. 
 
 “One should be free to use the rest of his life as one chooses. 
 
 “If one chooses to kill oneself then that’s fair enough. I don’t think anyone else should interfere.” 
 
 Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. 
 
 Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 
 
 -ABC ||||| A renowned 104-year-old Australian scientist died Thursday, ending his life in a medically assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic. 
 
 David Goodall, who was not terminally ill, happily sang a few bars of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at a news conference Wednesday on the eve of his assisted suicide in Basel. He told reporters that he was “happy to have the chance tomorrow to end it." 
 
 "At my age, and even at rather less than my age, one wants to be free to choose the death and when the death is the appropriate time,” Goodall said. “My abilities have been declining over the past year or two, and my eyesight for the past five or six years, and I no longer want to continue life." 
 
 Goodall, who wore a shirt that read “Ageing Disgracefully,” said he has considered using lethal injection, but that he’ll defer to doctors on the method. 
 
 Euthanasia is currently banned in Australia where the scientist lived, which prompted the scientist’s trek to Switzerland last week. 
 
 Swiss law currently allows assisted suicide for anyone who acknowledges in writing that they are taking their lives willingly — without being forced. The decades-old legislation that authorized the practice states that people who help others to die cannot do so for "selfish" reasons. 
 
 The state of Victoria in Australia recently passed an euthanasia bill, the Washington Post reported. In 2019, it will be legal for terminally ill patients to undergo the procedure. Six states in the U.S., including California, Vermont and Oregon have passed death-with dignity laws for terminally ill people. 
 
 Goodall said Wednesday that he hopes to be remembered “as an instrument of freeing the elderly” so others could choose death with dignity without traveling to Switzerland. 
 
 The centenarian has already bid goodbye to family members in Australia and France. Four family members and a close friend traveled with Goodall to be at his side when he died. 
 
 "I am glad to have the chance [to die] but would have preferred to have had it in Australia," he said. 
 
 The botanist ruled out a return to his beloved Australian countryside, though he wished to return to the Northwestern Kimberley region, his favorite area, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. 
 
 “There are many things I would like to do, I suppose, but it’s too late. I am content to leave them undone.” 
 
 Fox News’ Kathleen Joyce and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
– Australia's oldest scientist recently celebrated his 104th birthday, but it wasn't a joyous occasion. "I greatly regret having reached that age," David Goodall told ABC Australia in early April. "I'm not happy. I want to die." And that's exactly what Goodall, an esteemed ecologist, intends to do this month, with plans in the works to travel from Perth to a clinic in Basel, Switzerland, where staff there will help him end his life, the Guardian reports. Although Goodall doesn't have a terminal illness—a requirement for euthanasia in Victoria, the only state in Australia where assisted suicide will be legal as of June 2019—he says his quality of life has gone downhill and he doesn't want to prolong things. Switzerland is one of the few places in the world where, even though assisted suicide hasn't technically been legalized, it's not against Swiss law in "some circumstances," per the Washington Post. Goodall was in good shape into his 90s, when his vision started to fail. In 2016, Edith Cowan University, where he's an honorary research assistant, deemed him "unfit" to be on campus. Exit International, a euthanasia advocacy nonprofit that's helping organize his trip, has set up a GoFundMe page, calling the fact that he has to travel across the world to carry out his wishes a "pathetic state of affairs." "A peaceful, dignified death is the entitlement of all who want it," the group says in its latest newsletter. "And a person should not be forced to leave home to achieve it." Forbes notes Goodall—who tells the New Daily he feels "resentful" he has to go to Switzerland—has been an Exit International member for 20 years and "considering the next gradation for his own personal collection of carbon-based, life-bearing molecules for some time. Now, he's ready." (Check out this euthanasia pod.)