A FAMOUS drummer from Colchester has branded UK assisted dying laws as “psychopathic” after his terminally ill ex-wife legally ended her life in Switzerland.
Dave Rowntree, 60, drummer for the legendary brit-pop band Blur, has criticised the UK’s laws.
His ex-wife, Paola Marra, 53, a former music industry and charity sector worker, decided to end her life at Dignitas, in Zurich, Switzerland back in March after suffering with terminal breast and bowel cancer.
During the interview with the Guardian, Mr Rowntree said the UK legal system showed “absolutely no empathy for the sufferer”.
Founded in 1998, Dignitas is a non-profit organisation that provides physician-assisted suicide to members with terminal illness or severe physical or mental illness.
This was because the “pain and suffering can become unbearable”, she said in a film called The Last Request, which was released after her death at the age of 53.
The pair were married in 1994 and divorced in the early 2000s. He supported her throughout her cancer ordeal.
During the interview Mr Rowntree said the choice of criminalisation or a slow and uncomfortable death was “brutal” and added that he was “bloody angry” about the situation.
He said: “It is the system washing its hands of difficult problems in a way that I can’t stomach.
“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 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 Parklife drummer said his father, John, had bowel cancer and died this year, and he is advocating for the law to change.
He will join calls for a change in the law in the run-up to next month’s publication of a Bill proposing legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales under strict controls.
Next month, MPs will consider a private member’s bill that would allow terminally ill adults, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own lives.
Rowntree’s decision follows presenter Dame Esther Rantzen and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby speaking on the issue.
Rowntree, who ran as a Labour parliamentary candidate for Mid Sussex in the 2024 general election, added: “If you’re considering taking your own life, you are to do it isolated and alone, and anyone that is even suspected of helping in any material way can be arrested (and) you can get 14 years in jail.
“It’s utterly brutal for the ill person because anyone they tell is potentially at risk of arrest, so they have to creep around like a criminal.
“Not only that, but when the time comes, if they do decide to die with dignity and end their life at a time of their choosing, and in a way of their choosing, they have to do it unsupported by anyone, on their own, not able to hold anyone’s hand, not able to hug somebody and say goodbye.”
Crown Prosecution Service guidance says those accompanying their loved ones to Dignitas are “unlikely” to be prosecuted. The law also states a person could face 14 years in prison.
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