BHA comments on Dr Michael Irwin’s involvement with assisted death

The British Humanist Association (BHA) has today commented on the news that retired Dr Michael Irwin had paid for a terminally ill man to travel abroad for an assisted death.

Naomi Phillips, BHA Public Affairs Officer, said, ‘In the same month as Peers in the House of Lords voted against an amendment which would have made sensible and compassionate reforms to the law on assisted dying in the UK, we can see how inadequate that law is. A grieving man was arrested for accompanying his terminally partner abroad for a legal assisted death and now the person who funded that trip asking why he himself has not been arrested.’

Ms Phillips continued, ‘It is greatly saddening that loved ones and others who make the compassionate decision to assist terminally people abroad in order that they can die with dignity at a time of their choosing still do not know whether they will be arrested and prosecuted or not. Any real and secure change to remove the threat of prosecution must come from Parliament, and it is deeply disappointing that so far our elected representatives, and Peers, have largely failed to listen to the public, three-quarters of whom support physician assisted suicide in the UK, let alone abroad.’

‘That people are willing to court prosecution shows how desperate the situation is and how vital it is to reform the law’.

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For further comment or information, contact Naomi Phillips at naomi@humanism.org.uk, on 020 7079 3585 or on 07779 703 242.

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is the national charity representing and supporting the non-religious and campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief. It is the largest organisation in the UK working for a secular state.