Hove Dr Death plans to take "healthy" Eastbourne 91 year old to suicide clinic (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Hove Dr Death plans to take "healthy" Eastbourne 91 year old to suicide clinic
11:00am Tuesday 6th September 2011 in News Exclusive By Ben Parsons
A euthanasia campaigner nicknamed Dr Death has said he is preparing to take a Sussex woman abroad to be helped to die.
Michael Irwin said he is expecting to escort the 91-year-old – who does not have a terminal illness – to Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic in the next few months.
The woman is believed to be the first person from Sussex to use the clinic.
Dr Irwin, a 79-year-old former GP, of Cromwell Road, Hove, has claimed he has helped 50 patients die.
Speaking exclusively to The Argus yesterday, he said: “I’m in touch with somebody who lives in Eastbourne who is 91, who is not terminally ill but who will be going to Switzerland in the next two or three months.
“She has extensive arthritis. She has decided, “I can’t go on much longer”.
“Generally you feel it should be a relative or a very close friend who goes, but she has no relatives any more, her husband is dead, she has no children, she lives in a care home.”
The woman has arthritis, but is not expected to die from her mmedical problems.
The Argus asked to be put in contact with the 91-year-old, however Dr Irwin said she wished to remain anonymous.
For the full story see today's Argus.
Comments(18)
MellowHype
says...
11:10am Tue 6 Sep 11
papa_melons
says...
11:13am Tue 6 Sep 11
Spanners
says...
11:24am Tue 6 Sep 11
I thought wrote:I agree completely- I have experience of a famly member who has little or no quality of life due to crippling pain. It is ohrrible to watch. The condition, like arthritis, is not terminal in itself though. If a person is capable of making an informed, personal decision themselves that would prefer to die then they should be allowed to do so. It is their life, their pain, their choice
Decent of him to accompany Her. There comes a point when the quality of life is no longer with you and you think enough is enough. You would not allow an animal to suffer with chronic arthritis but expect someone who is elderly to live in crippling pain on medication. I hope some kind Soul helps me should the need arise.
Hard times
says...
12:22pm Tue 6 Sep 11
dhamallamafarmer
says...
12:42pm Tue 6 Sep 11
MuammarQaddafi
says...
12:44pm Tue 6 Sep 11
GIVE UP
says...
1:29pm Tue 6 Sep 11
Beethoven
says...
2:03pm Tue 6 Sep 11
This poor lady deserves a peaceful end, and all power to Dr Irwin and the Dignitas Clinic.
UppityPrimate
says...
2:50pm Tue 6 Sep 11
elainepkils
says...
3:45pm Tue 6 Sep 11
elainepkils
says...
3:56pm Tue 6 Sep 11
rasputin41
says...
4:29pm Tue 6 Sep 11
RickH
says...
7:09pm Tue 6 Sep 11
jiving
says...
1:05am Wed 7 Sep 11
jiving
says...
1:06am Wed 7 Sep 11
J_Waugh
says...
12:27pm Fri 9 Sep 11
I first heard about this on the TV news. I wanted to do something about it, and have ended up here.
Reading through the article, and others like it on the web, a lot is said about "choice" and the discussion of right and wrong, but there is something important that is getting overlooked: the fundamental fact that there is a lady who is in some sense so miserable that she thinks life is no longer worth living.
I can imagine how, with no relations and presumably few friends, someone could be so isolated and lonely that they come to this conclusion. In the care home one hopes she is looked after well, from a professional viewpoint - but good professional care is not the same as friendship: it can involve looking after someone's physical needs without ever meeting the deeper human need of real, deep love and heart-to-heart connection.
It is terrible that anyone, young or old, in full health or with painful arthritis, should end up in a situation like this. I want to say to the lady of Eastbourne:
"Don't despair: even though we have never met, I love you and care what happens to you."
I want to be there for this lady; to somehow put "beautiful flowers" into her life - and the lives of those like her; elderly, or depressed, or with mental health problems, or whoever they are.
Jonathan
J_Waugh
says...
12:31pm Fri 9 Sep 11
I first heard about this on the TV news. I wanted to do something about it, and have ended up here.
Reading through the article, and others like it on the web, a lot is said about "choice" and the discussion of right and wrong, but there is something important that is getting overlooked: the fundamental fact that there is a lady who is in some sense so miserable that she thinks life is no longer worth living.
I can imagine how, with no relations and presumably few friends, someone could be so isolated and lonely that they come to this conclusion. In the care home one hopes she is looked after well, from a professional viewpoint - but good professional care is not the same as friendship: it can involve looking after someone's physical needs without ever meeting the deeper human need of real, deep love and heart-to-heart connection.
It is terrible that anyone, young or old, in full health or with painful arthritis, should end up in a situation like this. I want to say to the lady of Eastbourne:
"Don't despair: even though we have never met, I love you and care what happens to you."
I want to be there for this lady; to somehow put "beautiful flowers" into her life - and the lives of those like her; elderly, or depressed, or with mental health problems, or whoever they are.
Jonathan
I thought says...
11:06am Tue 6 Sep 11