Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE FIRST PERSON to be prosecuted in Ireland for allegedly assisting someone to die by suicide has spoken of how she is “utterly free” of guilt in relation to her friend’s death.
Gail O’Rorke was acquitted in 2015 of three counts of assisting in the suicide of her friend Bernadette Forde.
Forde died in 2011 after taking a lethal dose of barbiturates ordered by O’Rorke from Mexico. She had been suffering from multiple sclerosis for a decade previous and had decided to take her own life.
O’Rorke was subsequently charged with assisting in the suicide of Forde.
The three charges against were for O’Rorke ordering the drugs which Forde would take to kill herself; helping to arrange her funeral in advance; and planning a trip to Zurich, where Forde hoped to die in the Swiss euthanasia clinic Dignitas, a plan that was thwarted when the travel agent alerted gardaí.
She was eventually acquitted of all three charges.
Speaking on RTÉ’s the Late Late Show, O’Rorke said that she had no regrets in the actions she had taken in relation to the suicide of her friend and was “utterly free” of any guilt.
“The guilt I would feel is that if Bernadette was now confined to a nursing home or a care home where she was going through the indignities that she wanted to avoid so much,” she said.
O’Rorke also spoke of her relationship she had with Forde, which grew over the years from her being a cleaner to becoming a confidante and carer to her in her final years.
She also spoke of planning the trip to Switzerland and the panic she felt when gardaí stopped her at the travel agents and asked to speak to her.
“They brought me to Rathmines Garda Station,” said O’Rorke.
“They basically told me that what we were doing was breaking the law.
And what I was doing was assisting in a suicide and that was punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Which I wasn’t aware of. And they told me to cancel our plans from that point on.
O’Rorke said that she wasn’t aware at the time that planning the trip could be an illegal act.
“In Switzerland it’s legal,” she said.
It’s a legal act in a country where it’s legal and I couldn’t see how I could be in any trouble.
O’Rorke also spoke of how she felt when her trial was over and she was eventually acquitted of all charges.
“It was like the torture had ended,” she said.
Crime or Compassion?: One Woman’s Story of a Loving Friendship That Knew No Bounds by Gail O’Rorke was released this week.
I seriously hope that the idiot who passed me and 3 others cars on double white lines on the N2 last Sunday reads this.
The car was going that fast I couldn’t get the number.
The speeding and passing out on that road it unbelievable.
@Kappa: I think that’s a big issue – the disconnect between behavior and the consequences.
We constantly hear that someone died on the road. We never hear the why.
So as a driver it is easy to separate our actions behind the wheel and possible outcomes.
Like above, the car hit a tree and they both died which s dreadful but how can such a thing happen and how do I avoid it? There’s no lesson to take away bar the usual generic slow down and don’t drink & drive which fall on deaf ears.
Fatal accident on N2 yesterday was a suspected non national drunk driver, he was killed. Three vehicles involved. Two innocent people now in critical condition.
Full details will become public knowledge in due course. Locals well aware of what occurred.
This should be broadcast on all Irish channels at the same time.
I’d rather watch something about the cosmos. There’s so much out there to discover.
@Hello there. What a sad little existence you must lead. What you going to do when twitter shut down your means of hiding so you can troll?
I’ll cry :-)
I was passed on the ballyragget road in kilkenny by a fool in a supervalu van on his mobile over took me as a tractor approached , I reported this to supervalu and nothing happened , I have now reported to gardai hopefully this fool will be caught before he bn kills some one…
I think we should get the figures for the last decade of what was deemed the cause of accidents. Then increase the resourcing of prevent the causes and tell the public why. People caught speeding always seem to say it is a money making exercise, people say cyclists are a huge danger, roads are dangerous, etc… Let’s see the actual figures. I suspect it driver behaviour more than people will admit
@Kal Ipers: I would say that almost certainly, the vast majority of fatal accidents in Ireland are caused by driver error and driver choices.
Part of the problem is the very natural human feeling of compassion for the victims. The horrifying story of a young woman dying with her son is going to make anyone feel sympathy. So there’s a way to talk about it. “their car hit a tree”. It’s an event that comes like lightning out of the sky. It’s callous and cruel to look closer at why the car hit the tree. It would cause those already suffering even more pain. However, if people aren’t willing to look openly and clearly at why accidents happen, and why the causes are not accidental, but the choices people make, then there can’t be significant improvement.
The Irish record on road safety is much worse than the UK. Rural Ireland is worse than Dublin. Donegal is very, very bad indeed. This is partly due to the type of roads, and their condition, but it’s mostly due to the Irish driver, who routinely does things that in the long term will kill someone.
@Julian West: Sorry Julian, just reading your comment after I posted mine.
You said it better than me and I couldn’t agree more.
@Julian West: Hate to break it to you they do investigate these things either way. I am suggesting they publish the results in the form of stats to let the public know he truth.
@Julian.Great post.
Heartbreaking to watch and should be required viewing for anybody who is learning to drive a car.on a side note to all the whingers who complain about RTE in fairness to them they have produced two powerful programmes in the last few days on this subject and the hospital waiting lists.
have your say