Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has slammed the UK’s “psychopathic” assisted death laws, revealing his terminally ill ex-wife, Paola Marra, felt forced to die alone in Switzerland earlier this year.
The 60-year-old musician expressed his anger at the current legislation that leaves some terminally ill individuals with the “brutal” option of ending their lives without the legal means to seek help.
Rowntree’s comments come ahead of a new bill proposing amendments to the assisted dying law in England and Wales, set to be introduced under stringent conditions.
Rowntree and Paola Marra tied the knot in 1994 but went their separate ways in the early 2000s. Despite their divorce, he was among those who supported her following her terminal bowel cancer diagnosis, which ultimately led her to choose to end her life at Dignitas.
Marra, originally from Canada, decided to make the solitary journey to Switzerland in March after enduring multiple gruelling treatments and operations.
With the knowledge that her cancer was incurable, she sought to avoid a potentially agonising and undignified demise, especially as she was allergic to strong painkillers.
Six months after his ex-wife’s death, Rowntree has branded the UK’s stance on assisted dying as “psychopathic”, accusing it of demonstrating “absolutely no empathy for the sufferer”.
He said, as reported by The Guardian: “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 the f**k 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.”
This is a breaking showbiz story, the /showbiz team will be updating this story with the latest information as soon as we receive it. For further updates, please refresh the page
You can also get email updates on the day’s biggest TV stories straight to your inbox by signing up for our newsletters.
Get all the very best headlines, pictures, opinion and video on the day’s top showbiz stories by following Express.co.uk every time you see our name.
-
Follow Express on Google News – CLICK HERE
-
Follow Express on Apple News –_ CLICK HERE__ available on Apple devices_
-
Follow Express on _Flipboard – _CLICK HERE and click follow
You can also sign up for Twitter alerts for breaking news and all the latest updates by following @Daily_Express, or for the latest TV and showbiz news, follow @expressceleb
Keep up-to-date with your must-see TV stories, features, videos and pictures throughout the day by following us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ExpressCelebrity