Dignity in Dying Statement on Sir Patrick Stewart

Sir Patrick will be sorely missed and remembered by all of us at Dignity in Dying for the compassion, commitment and humility he brought to his campaigning, as well as to his stage and screen work. We offer our sincere condolences to his family, friends and innumerable fans.

Having seen friends suffer torturous deaths or resort to the unimaginable to avoid one, he became a patron of Dignity in Dying in 2011. Standing shoulder to shoulder with dying people and bereaved families on Parliament Square, addressing MPs directly, and speaking candidly to the media about the devastation that had befallen his loved ones, Sir Patrick helped shift the dial on one of the defining issues of our time. 

He felt it a cruel irony that in his adopted home of California, true choice at the end of life was legalised a decade ago, yet in the beloved country of his birth that same right is still denied to people. He spoke for the vast majority of the British public when he said:

We must be free from torture and suffering, we must have the freedom to choose for ourselves. We have no choice about how and when we come into this word, but it seems that we should be able to have a choice in how we leave it if our death is fast approaching.

Sir Patrick has earned his place in the history books for so many accomplishments, and in time that will include helping to secure kinder, safer laws on assisted dying across the UK. 

ENDS

For more information please contact Tom Steen, Media & Campaigns Officer at tom.steen@dignityindying.org.uk or 07356135578