Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has launched an attack on the UK law on assisted dying, after his terminally ill ex-wife was forced to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland, where she died alone.
Rowntree, 60, was married to Paola Marra in the Nineties. Before her death aged 53, which took place in Zurich in March, Marra had been suffering from terminal bowel cancer and was being supported by Rowntree.
In a new interview with The Guardian, the musician called the UK law on assisted dying “psychopathic” because it shows “absolutely no empathy for the sufferer”.
Assisted dying is criminalised in the UK, but there are growing calls for a change in the law. Next month, a bill will be published proposing legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales under strict regulations.
After several rounds of difficult treatment and surgeries, Marra – who was allergic to strong painkillers – decided she did not want to face a painful death.
Rowntree, whose father John also died of bowel cancer this year, accused the state of “washing its hands of difficult problems in a way that I can’t stomach”.
He said: “That’s the whole point of the state. The state can declare war… And if the state isn’t going to take these kind of difficult decisions, what the f*** is the point in having the state? This is psychopathic, where we are now, because the whole point of this [should be] to try to make things easier for the real victim in this – the terminally ill person.”
The drummer said he had attempted to persuade Marra to stay at home in London in the hope her death could be made more comfortable there, and then he offered to go with her to Zurich – a move that could have risked prosecution for assisting suicide under current laws.
Marra declined his offer, then changed her mind and asked him to join her because she didn’t know if she could “do this on my own”.
She then changed her mind again and ended up dying alone the next day. Before her death, she had asked Rowntree to support a change in the law.
Childline founder Dame Esther Rantzen has been one of the most vocal supporters of a change in the law.
She has stage four lung cancer, and has been outspoken on the issue since revealing last December that she had joined Dignitas due to her fears around a drawn-out, painful death.
Dame Esther has urged people to write to their MP as proposed legislation is brought before the Commons for the first time in almost a decade.
She said she is writing to her own representative in Parliament to make her case for a change in the law, telling her story of terminal illness and a wish to have a choice over the end of her life.
