British Television Reporter Confesses to Smothering His Lover with AIDS

A veteran British broadcaster made a stunning confession on a television program aired this week.  He admitted smothering his lover who had AIDS sometime in the 1980s.    Ray Gosling has been arrested and is now out on bail for his public admission.

As explained by Gosling on the BBC Inside Out television program:  “In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ and he was in terrible, terrible pain.  I said to the doctor, ‘Leave me just for a bit’ and he went away.  I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead.”

This stunning story has fueled debate already raging in the United Kingdom over euthanasia and assisted suicide.  British citizens travel to Switzerland to be assisted with death, causing some to promote legalization in Great Britain so that people do not have to travel for their “right-to-die.”   A highly-publicized case asking that those who assist patients in traveling to Switzerland not be prosecuted resulted in interim guidelines being published by the Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales on when assisted suicide cases should be prosecuted.

A prominent British novelist, Martin Amis, is pushing euthanasia because people are living longer and would create “a population of demented very old people, like an invasion of terrible immigrants, stinking out the restaurants and cafes and shops.”   Amis wants euthanasia booths on every corner “where you could get a martini and a medal.”  Another British author, Terry Pratchett, is asking for the creation of special panels where people could argue their case to be legally put to death.

Debate is at fever pitch in Scotland over a bill introduced by a Member of Parliament to legalize assisted suicide.   These developments are ominous not only for the United Kingdom, but for other countries who might follow their lead.

Barbara Lyons