Lynn Gilderdale: drug cocktail

IRISH citizens have the 14th highest membership rate of the 61 nations registered at the assisted-suicide clinic Dignitas in Switerland.

Membership is a prerequisite to assisted suicide – those who wish to die must join and then furnish the appropriate medical information before being seen by a doctor.

The sixth and most recent Irish citizen to die at the Zurich facility attended last year, four years after the high-profile death of multiple sclerosis sufferer Martin Barry.

Dignitas has 28 Irish members. It is unclear how many of these have applied for assisted suicide although joining is the first step in the process.

Dignitas said that many who begin the process never complete it.

The figures follow a controversial trial in the UK two weeks ago in which a mother was cleared of the attempted murder of her daughter.

Kay Gilderdale gave a cocktail of drugs to her 31-year-old daughter Lynn in December 2008. She had suffered from a severe form of ME for 17 years and had considered Dignitas as a potential solution.

The issue of assisted-suicide has long been debated but remains an illegal act in many countries, including Ireland.

Five years ago, Martin Barry became the centre of such publicity. He suffered from a progressive form of MS, and decided to end his life at Dignitas despite having changed his mind on the first occasion. During a radio debate in 2004, Barry explained his decision: "I did not want to end up in a nursing home requiring constant care in my 30s.

"I did not want to endure a painful, cruel death propped up with morphine. My choice... has released me from the terror of facing a horrible and painful death. It is an act of self-deliverance."

Speaking to the Sunday Tribune last week, Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli said when Barry decided to return to Ireland to try and get on with life, "I said congratulations for your decision".

He explained that it is common for people who apply for assisted suicide at the clinic to change their minds after receiving a "provisional green light" as this offers them the comfort of a guaranteed way out should they eventually need it.

"It's because they are assured that the emergency exit is open and if they can't take it [in life], it is there. That helps a lot of people," he said.

Despite Barry's change of mind, he eventually returned to Switzerland to complete the process once his condition had become too severe.