Richard and Judy: Our suicide pact
IT is a matter Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan have clearly discussed at some length in private.
But their decision to make public their thoughts on assisted suicide and reveal details of a suicide pact they have made has led to one of television’s most popular couples dividing opinion and exposing themselves to criticism.
After 26 years of marriage, the former presenters of ITV’s This Morning said they had made a ‘pledge’ to help one another if they were suffering and considered it the ‘ responsibility’ of their partner, regardless of the consequences.
Mr Madeley, 57, said he would not hesitate if his wife asked him to give her ‘a little push to go over the edge’ and Miss Finnigan said she would do the same.
Under British law, a partner can be prosecuted if they help someone to die.
Mr Madeley said he would spare his wife such a fate by joking that he would shoot himself in the head. ‘For me, it would be the locked room, the bottle of whisky and the revolver,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t want to mess around.’
Miss Finnigan, 65, was equally forthright. ‘Stuff it all. We’ve made ourselves give each other a pledge along those lines,’ she said.
However, they were accused by anti-euthanasia campaigners of ‘promoting’ suicide, with their celebrity status increasing the risk of copycat agreements.
Dr Peter Saunders of Care Not Killing said Mr Madeley’s revolver comment amounted to a breach of World Health Organisation guidelines about the discussion of suicide in the public sphere.
The guidelines, which are intended to protect the vulnerable, state that celebrity endorsement is to be avoided and methods should not be discussed.
Disability rights campaigner Baroness Campbell, who is against the legalisation of assisted suicide, echoed those concerns.
While noting that the couple’s decision was ‘entirely their own matter’, she added: ‘When it becomes problematic is because they have a very prominent influence on people.
‘They have a massive following but what they’re not doing is thinking about how their decisions may impact upon other people and the adverse effect this could have on people.
‘They have a very influential voice and the people who will suffer will be those who are vulnerable to i nfluence and coercion. While everyone has a right to an opinion, I don’t think what they’ve done is responsi-
‘Closer to your own mortality’
ble.’ However, Dignity in Dying, which supports assisted suicide, welcomed the debate ignited by the couple.
‘This is a conversation that needs to be had and any discussion about it going on in the public sphere is a positive thing,’ said a spokesman.
The couple have two children together – Chloe and Jack – and Miss Finnigan has two sons from a previous marriage. They were last on TV screens regularly five years ago but remain well-known due to their book club, which is now in its tenth year.
The couple, who became grandparents 18 months ago, revealed that they decided to confront the issue when Mr Madeley’s mother died last month.
He said that although she had Alzheimer’s and lung cancer, her death came as a shock.
Miss Finnigan added: ‘It’s just the shock of death. It is so final … I suspect that the closer you get to your own mortality, the more final it seems.’
Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence, technically punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Guidelines issued in 2010 indicated that anyone acting with compassion on the will of a dying person is unlikely to face charges. Severely ill Britons are increasingly ending their lives by travelling to clinics abroad, such as Dignitas in Switzerland.