Claire Byrne facilitated a lengthly debate on the sensitive topic of dying by assisted suicide, with viewers tuning in to praise the “respectful” and “balanced” show.
Monday night's Claire Byrne Live programme discussed the question of legalising assisted suicide in Ireland, with a panel made up of people with personal experiences and experts on both sides.
Panellists included Donal Walsh’s mother, Elma Walsh, who said how palliative care helped her son live his life to the fullest until he died of cancer aged 16, as well as author Kevin Quaid who has Lewy Body Dementia and wants to choose how he dies.
Elma spoke about the “excellent” support her son, Donal, was given by a palliative care team that meant, despite having terminal cancer, he was able to enjoy a quality of life and make a difference before he died.
She said: “During the time that he did live with terminal cancer, he got hold of a fake ID, he went to nightclubs, he went to football matches, rugby matches. With the help of palliative care, he got out of the country to Paris.
“He was given deadlines, ‘you mightn’t see Christmas’, ‘you mightn’t see Easter’, but he was here in the studio with Brendan O’Connor the week after Easter, having a conversation that saved lives.
“So if the choice was there, would he have missed out on that conversation with Brendan? You have to think of things like that.”
Limerick dad, Kevin, who was diagnosed with the degenerative illness at the age of 53, explained his reasons for supporting assisted suicide, saying: “We all have an inner strength in us deep down, and it’s there…
“But the last thing I want - and I want to live till I’m 100 - but the last couple of days are going to be there.
“And I want my wife and my kids to say, ‘Dad is going on his terms’.
“I do not want them by my bedside saying, ‘Dad would not have wanted this’.”
Professor Theo Boer, from The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, joined from The Netherlands where assisted dying was legalised in 2002. He said that while he is not against assisted suicide, he warned about the “slippery slope” of legalisation of it and said that now in The Netherlands, because the choice exists people feel pressured to make that choice.
Dr Boer said: “I think we all agree that killing yourself with the help of a physician should be an exception, it should be a last resort. It was once an exception but we have now done research, for example in the Amsterdam area 14 to 17% of all deaths are the result of assisted dying.
“Since we legalised assisted dying, we have turned a page, where death is increasingly becoming a project. While it is a right for some, it causes a question, which some people call ‘decision stress’ - ‘Should I live?’ or ‘Should I not live?’.
However, Tom Curran, director of Exit International, joined the debate from Switzerland where he was meeting people who had travelled there to end their lives - including one couple who were choosing to die together.
“This is a very personal issue,” he said. “They are an elderly couple, one of them is quite ill and the other one has decided they just don’t want to live on without them.
“And that’s their reason for travelling to Switzerland where I said they have a very humane attitude towards it and a very civilised attitude towards it where they will help them to go together.”
Speaking about why he believes assisted suicide should be legalised in Ireland he spoke about a woman he knew who had Multiple sclerosis and, at a point in time, decided that “life was not worth living anymore and wanted to stop”.
He said: “To me it seems a very reasonable and a very compassionate thing to allow a person to decide that for themselves.”
While many took to Twitter to offer their own opinions on the topic, viewers on both sides had one thing to say about the debate.
One person wrote: “Much respect to @ClaireByrneLive & the panelists tonight for dealing with the issue of assisted death with so much sensitivity and eloquence.”
Another added: "Well done to #cblive tonight. Its good to see people with differing views discuss challenging issues in a respectful way without shouting each other down and dismissing others who hold an alternative view."
“@ClaireByrneLive what an excellent program. Fair and balanced and really opening up this important subject very well done to all the team and guests,” a Twitter user wrote.
“Really good discussion on end of life on @ClaireByrneLive. More of these kind of respectful, informative programmes on big topics [please] @RTEOne,” one woman wrote.
And one viewer said: “In fairness tonight's Claire Byrne show is excellent. There ARE other issues rather than covid. #cblive
Meanwhile, research for the show by Amárach revealed that 74% of people polled were in favour of legalising assisted suicide in Ireland.
The poll revealed that 14% were against legalising assisted suicide, while 12% said they didn’t know.
