MDMD has been following the story of Marieke Vervoort, the medal-winning paralympic athlete, since she announced her intention to end her life when she felt the time was right for her. Many papers, including The Guardian and The Mail have reported her death by euthanasia on 22nd October 2019. Marieke had endured unbearable pain as [...]
MDMD's Campaigns and Communications Manager, Keiron McCabe, spoke exclusively with “Endgame” director Andi Reiss about Omid’s journey. Andi was present at Omid's medically assisted suicide in Switzerland. Photo: Omid and Andi, shortly before Omid's death at Lifecircle Switzerland. Photo credit: Andi Reiss How did you first become interested in the issues around Assisted Dying? My [...]
Omid T: A Legacy of Bravery, Compassion and Empowerment Photo: Omid and Dr Erika Preisig at Lifecircle, shortly before his medically assisted death. Photo Credit - Andi Reiss I'm glad you're here; thank you, thank you for everyone's support - Omid (1964 - 2018) On October 4th 2018, assisted dying campaigner, Omid T chose to [...]
The Economist is publishing a series of essays by those involved in the Assisted Dying debate. We are delighted that one of the invited authors is Dr. Michael Irwin, MDMD's founder and now a patron. Michael's piece describes the five occasions where he has been present at an assisted suicide in Switzerland. All the essays [...]
MDMD are delighted to learn that the Scottish parliament has removed any time limit from its definition of "terminally ill" in their Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018. The story was reported by the BBC and the Guardian. The Guardian article states "There were a number of significant last-minute amendments to the legislation, including the removal [...]
In April 2017 MS sufferer Colin Campbell publicly stated his intention to end his life in Switzerland on June 15th 2017. Due to the intervention of fellow MS sufferer Rona Tynan, and the alternatives and assistance she helped him consider, Colin has deferred his appointment in Switzerland. In October 2017 a BBC story and podcast [...]
A new BBC report has been published on Belgian paralympian Marieke Vervoort who has obtained papers authorising her euthanasia. She has suffered from a progressive, incurable spinal condition, for 16 years. The report describes her severe pain which is not fully controllable by medication. A video clip shows her suffering. The story follows an earlier [...]
The BBC report the case of Marieke Vervoort who has a degenerative muscle disease and won silver in the 2016 paralympics. She has made it clear that she wants Euthanasia in the future, at the time of her choosing. This is an example of the Extended Advance Decision idea being proposed by MDMD. How assisted dying [...]
In 2006 Lord Rix, who was president of Mencap, voted against an assisted dying bill in the House of Lords. Now, aged 92, and terminally ill himself, he has changed his mind, and has called on the speaker of the House of Lords to open the debate again: "I can only ask that once again [...]