Man charged with helping wife kill herself: What I did was right

Nov 27 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

AN anguished husband is anxiously waiting to see whether he will be prosecuted after he helped his bedridden wife kill herself.

And after Margaret Bateman suffered years of agony, her husband Michael has called for a change in the law to allow people the right to die.

Details of the couple’s devotion came out at an inquest in Huddersfield on Wednesday, which was adjourned pending any criminal proceedings.

Mrs Bateman, 62, suffered from a mystery condition which baffled medical specialists and remained undiagnosed – and she spent the final three years of her life in terrible pain, bedridden and cared for by her devoted husband.

Mr Bateman is now calling for a change in the law to allow people the right to die saying he did the morally correct thing.

The couple researched suicide techniques on-line and Margaret's devoted husband made the agonising decision to help his beloved wife die using helium gas, just days before their 40th wedding anniversary.

The Crown Prosecution Service are now deciding whether to take Mr Bateman to court. He has been released on police bail facing charges of aiding and abetting his wife to kill herself.

After the opening of the inquest into his wife's death he revealed his unimaginable torment.

The tearful IT consultant, from Birstall, said: “We were married for a few days short of 40 years. She was a brave and courageous woman who lived in agony for many years.

“She was healthy once and worked as an assistant in a care home.

“I had to give up work to look after Margaret full-time. The family were placed in an intolerable situation.”

He added that the desperate couple had even considered a trip to the infamous Switzerland-based clinic Dignitas, which assists suicide, but were “prevented by circumstances”.

Mr Bateman, who has recently been diagnosed with spinal cancer, said: “Margaret was going to starve herself to death but she was threatened with being taken into hospital and force-fed.

“What I did for Margaret was morally right and correct. It’s what she wanted.

“It helped her out of her suffering. If society chooses to lock me up then society needs jolting around the issue of assisted suicide.”

He added that although he is currently on bail waiting to hear if he will be prosecuted for aiding and abetting the suicide, he does not believe he will be re-arrested.