Obituary: Patrick Kneen

Patrick Kneen, who mounted a determined campaign for Doctor Assisted Dying to be legalized on the Isle of Man, died on Thursday, 23 October. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The 74-year-old Manxman had prostate cancer with secondaries and was told early in 2003 that he had, at most, a few years left to live. He immediately told friends in the Manx Humanist community that he would spend his last days campaigning for a Bill which would allow a dignified end for others like him, though he might not live long enough to benefit personally.

Mr Kneen launched his ‘Manx For Death With Dignity’ campaign (Manx 4DWD) with a letter to the local newspaper in Spring 2003, asking for a local politician to push for a Bill in Tynwald, the Manx parliament. Two politicians rose to the challenge and were granted leave to introduce a Bill, subject to a Tynwald committee being formed first to consider evidence and make a report to the House of Keys.

With assistance from a small, predominantly Secular Humanist, group of helpers the campaign gained local media coverage, a website (www.Manx4DWD.org.uk) and interest from the national press, regional BBC and independent radio and television.

The inevitable religious backlash soon began, with ‘experts’ arriving to panic the gullible, the elderly and the disabled with scare stories and Biblical ‘proof’. But an online poll by the local newspaper showed that 80% approved a change in the law. Manx 4DWD distributed postcards to every Island household, asking people to send them to politicians to demand the change. Almost 4,500 of the population of 70,000 did so. And over 200 local submissions of evidence were sent to the Tynwald committee by the deadline of 30 September.

By this point Patrick Kneen was confined to his home, having lost his sight, but continued to listen and comment publicly right to the end. In less than a year Pat’s campaign has transformed this Island so much, and Manx Humanism in particular. We’ll miss Pat, but we will finish what he started.

Stuart Hartill, Manx For Death With Dignity

Campaign Secretary and Member of Isle of Man Freethinkers