Marie’s fight for the right to die lives on in Tom’s campaign
It may well be the next controversial ‘ life’ issue that the Irish electorate will have to decide upon.
The ‘ right to die’ for those terminally ill is a highly emotive issue and it’s one which a man with a lasting connection to same will discuss at a meeting in Sligo tonight (Tuesday) at the Radisson Hotel hosted by North West Humanists.
Tom Curran will give a talk on Dying with Dignity, and speak about the personal journey which led him to play a key role in the ongoing campaign for the right to choose a peaceful death.
Tom, a former IT consultant from Arklow, Co Wicklow came to national prominence along with his partner, Marie a former UCD law lecturer who had lived with MS and who had died at their home in December 2013, aged 59.
In December 2012 Ms Fleming brought her fight to challenge the ban on assisted suicide to the High Court.
She had wanted her partner Tom to be able to assist her death without fear of prosecution. However, the High Court ruled against her and so the Supreme Court subsequently in April 2013.
Marie was diagnosed with MS in 1986 and as she progressively became more disabled as a result of the condition she embarked on the legal action arguing the ban on assisted suicide breached her constitutional rights and discriminated against her.
High Court President Nicholas Kearns suggested that, in the unprecedented case, the DPP was likely to exercise her discretion in a humane and sensitive fashion in deciding whether to prosecute should Tom assist in Marie’s death.
Tom is one of three directors of Exit International, the endof-life information organisation that campaigns across the world for the legalisation of assisted suicide.
He believes people should be given the right to decide themselves. “For instance in the event of a very difficult illness that they have had enough of that and should be able to die.”
He accepts that the right to die issue hasn’t moved forward much since his partner’s case made all the headlines and perhaps the appetite just wasn’t there to take it on despite the outpouring of public sympathy to the couple at the time.
He says it came as a complete surprise for him to be asked to appear before an Oireachtas committee on justice earlier this year to outline his views.
A report was published about three weeks ago which he says is quite favourable towards looking at the possibility to doing something on the matter.
“With Marie’s situation there was a groundswell of support for people like her and she gave it a human face but just like other things when it is no longer to the forefront and people aren’t talking about it, it just drifts away and I think that’s what has largely happened to it,” he says.
He is regularly asked for advice and assistance by people wishing to end their lives.
“Only yesterday I got a phonecall from an elderly woman who had been ill for quite some time and she feels it is not something that she wants right now but she wants to prepare for the future. That’s something we encourage people to do. By preparing for the future they don’t necessarily have to involve anybody else which where breaking the law comes in.”
And how does he ‘ help’ in these situations? “I can’t help directly but what we do is to provide information on how people can go about it themselves. The only place people can go for direct help is Switzerland and other countries have legalised assisted dying as well but only for their own nationals.”
He holds regular workshops “where people come along and we provide them with all the information on a general basis.” London, Capetown are just of his recent destinations. The group also publishes a handbook which “goes into quite a lot of detail” but which “keeps us at arm’s length so that we’re not doing it directly. So far it has worked.”
And, there is a filtering out process. “There’s one thing I am very careful about is if there is an urgency, if someone says they want this tomorrow then I would be very cautious about dealing with someone like that.”
It would seem to be impulsive then rather than thought out, says Tom.
“What we advocate is for people to think this well through in advance and do the preparation well in advance rather than I want this to happen tomorrow,” he says, adding that he would tend personally not to deal with young people at all because he believes they cannot grasp the severity of what they maybe trying to do.
“There could be exceptions in that if the young person has a specific illness that would justify them thinking I suppose in that way,” he says.
And those presenting with suicidal thoughts are turned away.
“What we are talking about are rational adults making a decision for themselves. Suicidal tendencies would appear to me to be irrational,” he says.
He admits that to this day he fears prosecution over the death of his partner.
“Of course yes. Even the fact that a case was opened into Marie’s death as a criminal investigation. Of course that’s there but I gave Marie my assurance that I would help her if she wanted help,” he says.
There was no inquest into his partner’s death but a criminal investigation was started about two years ago into Marie’s death and he was questioned for hours in a Garda station.
As far as Tom is concerned that probe is still ongoing but he assumes it has gone dormant. He’s not aware if a file ever went to the DPP in the matter.
At the gathering in Sligo he will address the philosophy behind the right to die and the way different organisations approach it.
Some want to see a change in the law he says while others regard it as a medical problem.
Tom says he would regard someone with a terminal illness wishing to die as a human right.
“If a person’s life is their own, it’s up to them to decide what they want to do with that life providing that they don’t interfere with anybody else. To me it’s a human rights issue, not a medical one,” he says.
He does not get involved with the families of those who wish to end their lives.
“I don’t get involved directly with the families at all. I would imagine that, as in an awful lot of cases, nobody wants someone that they love to die. So yes, I would imagine there is (opposition).
“And, to a certain extent it’s quite a selfish attitude, you want the person to be around for your sake but it doesn’t matter that they are suffering and it’s their decision,” he says.
He does believe a change in the law is coming. The fact the justice committee “out of the blue” decided to look at it gives him hope.
“After the recent referendum many people came to me and said your issue is now next in line.
“Maybe it is. Maybe that’s the way people are thinking,” he says.