There but for the grace of whichever God you believe in.

You won’t find many Police Officers who haven’t experienced the sadness of attending the scene of a suicide. It is something that despite the bullish bravado amongst colleagues at the time, did invariably come home with you afterwards. One in particular, an exhaust fume suicide, stays in my mind for its remoteness and for the contents of a note left upon the car dashboard. Compounding the tragedy is that the family and friends who are left with the grief never get the chance to say that they value the person’s life more highly than the deceased did at the time. Worse still, in many cases they were never told of the problems that were allowed to overtake their loved ones lives and often how, with help, they could swiftly have been rectified.

Consequently I find the Debbie Purdy case incredibly sad. Debbie is clearly making her own choice based entirely on the tragic and very real medical circumstances she now finds herself in. If she is determined to pursue her intentions in Switzerland and she is fully supported by her husband Omar, isn’t it preferable to be comforted and supported by him at the end and not alone like those I’ve witnessed? And I’d rather see him return home to grieve without the fear of arrest and prosecution.


nick