Baroness Warnock (Mary) died on March 20, 2019, at the age of 94. Warnock was philosopher and politician and passionate advocate for assisted dying. The Times of London placed an obituary for her.
After the death of her husband in 1995, she admitted that he had been helped to die. He was suffering from a rare lung disease, and a GP gave him a peaceful and dignified death by increasing his morphine dose, ending his life two weeks before he would have died. Baroness Warnock said: “I couldn’t bear hanging on and being such a burden to people.” She suggested that those with dementia might even have a duty to die. Warnock did not believe in God or an afterlife, but she did believe that when somebody dies they do continue to live in a way, because there are lots of people . . . who have loved them and who think about them all the time. Referring to her husband, she said: “I talk to him, hear his voice and feel that he is around and I don?t have to tell him that I’ve bashed the car in.” Among other works she wrote, together with Elisabeth Macdonald, the book: Easeful Death: Is there a case for assisted dying? Mar 6, 2008
