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Euthanasia in Ireland

T he issue of the right for a person to choose the time and manner of their own death is sparking many debates and raising new questions around the world: In 2002, mourners gathered at the funeral of Rosemary Toole Gilhooley, an Irishwoman whose death was assisted by an American minister, the Reverend George Exoo, and his assistant, Thomas McGurrin. Exoo and McGurrin traveled to Dublin, Ireland, with Toole Gilhooley, who was later found dead in the rented home where they were staying. Exoo admitted that he and McGurrin helped set up a mechanism that would cut off Toole Gilhooley’s oxygen supply. They also guided her through five practice sessions with it but claimed to only watch as she went through the procedure. The two men faced extradition , or transfer from the United States back to Ireland, to face charges of assisting in a suicide, but the extra- dition efforts failed in 2007. The death was ruled a suicide without assistance, but there was swirling controversy because of Exoo and McGurrin’s level of involvement in Toole Gillhooley’s death. More recently, a woman named Marie Fleming filed a lawsuit chal- lenging Ireland’s ban on assisted suicide. Fleming, who suffered from multiple sclerosis, wanted to make sure that her partner, Tom Curran, would not be prosecuted if he helped her to end her life. In 2013, Ireland’s supreme court ruled against Fleming. However, the debate she sparked on the right to die has continued in Ireland.

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Background of Euthanasia