Calls for assisted dying from former Queens University Professor
Breast cancer and MS sufferer Barbara Rima ended her own battle.
Last updated 22nd Feb 2017
Retired Queens University Professor Bert Rima came home one Sunday afternoon to find his wife Barbara, who had breast cancer and MS, had taken poison to end her suffering.
The couple had made plans to travel to Dignatas in Switzerland, who provide assisted suicide to critically ill patients. But Barbara’s condition deteriorated and by the time all of the formalities had been completed, she was too ill to travel.
Under the Suicide Act 1961, it is illegal to assist another person in an act of suicide but the Swiss clinic allows a terminally ill person to self-administer a lethal injection to end their own life.
Bert said although he did not know his wife was going to take her own life in that way, he was fully supportive of her plans to travel abroad to end her suffering.
“I could see the suffering, I could see the fact that despite best attempts from people who had provided palliative care, pain control was no longer working and therefore to an extent there was no other way out and I was fully in agreement with her decision,” he said.
He added: “People have the right to self-determine whether or not they end their life in circumstances that are better than the ones that we sometimes see when people have to starve themselves to death or commit suicide in other horrific ways.”
Because of the law in Northern Ireland, police are obliged to examine the circumstances and Bert found the investigation difficult.
“My wife’s computer was impounded and taken away, I think it was quite clear that I wasn’t there and therefore it would be difficult to come forward with the argument that I assisted but never the less, you don’t know.” He said.
The retired Queens University Professor wants to see a change in the law to allow loved ones to assist in the suicide of a terminally ill patient, under strict regulations.
But Pro Life campaigners say that would pose major problems.
Ciaran Kelly from the Christian Institute argues that with an ageing population, people could feel forced into making a decision.
“That would add a huge amount of pressure on vulnerable people who are going through very difficult situations to say ok well I’m a burden, it’d be better for me to die,” he said.
He added: “We wouldn’t want to see any changes to a law which apply pressure to people to feel that they are not valued by society or feel that they are a burden, the law should be preserved as it stands.”
In September 2015, MPs voted against a proposed assistant dying bill.
118 voted in favour and 330 voted against plans to allow some terminally ill adults to end their lives with medical supervision. It was the first vote on the issue for almost 20 years.
It’s an age old issue that divides opinion everywhere and that’s unlikely to change in the near future.