The State must grant us our dying wish

FATE DEALT Bernadette Forde savage blows, but the State also ensured that her final days and hours were lacking peace of mind, writes Michael Clifford. 

Ms Forde died on June 5, 2011, after taking a fatal dose of a toxic substance. She recorded a final message, because her disability had robbed her of the capacity to write.

Such a testament, from a person about to end their own life, usually accesses the deepest truths of their psyche. Bernadette Forde wasn’t allowed that final rite of passage. She was compelled to be dishonest in her recording, not for any nefarious reasons, but simply out of love, and worry.