Michael Irwin
Encyclopedia
General practitioner
A general practitioner is a medical practitioner who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education for all ages and both sexes. They have particular skills in treating people with multiple health issues and comorbidities...
and former medical director of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. He is a humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
and secularist
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
activist and a campaigner for voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia
Voluntary euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner...
.
Life
Irwin's father was William Knox Irwin FRCS, a surgeon and author of medical text books.Michael Irwin married Elizabeth Naumann in 1958; the marriage was dissolved in 1982. He married Frederica Harlow in 1983. His current partner is Angela Farmer.
Career
Irwin was trained at St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical CollegeSt Bartholomew's Hospital
St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(graduating in 1955), and at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He gained his masters degree in public health from the latter in 1960.
He worked at Prince of Wales Hospital, London, from 1955-1956. In 1957 he became Medical Officer at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. In 1961 he worked with the UN in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, returning to his Medical Officer post in 1963 and rising to become Medical Director of the United Nations in 1969. He became Director of personnel at the United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
in 1973.
Irwin subsequently held a variety of positions with UNICEF, in 1982 taking up the post of Medical Director of the United Nations, UNICEF and UNDP, which he held until 1989 when he was appointed Director of Medical Services at the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
.
In March 1990 Irwin resigned from the World Bank, writing a letter to the Wall Street Journal which detailed his complaints about the Bank http://go.worldbank.org/D7ENYA0IR0. He cited in particular "the Bank's bloated, overpaid bureaucracy, its wasteful practices, and its generally poor management."
Voluntary Euthanasia
In November 1999 Irwin stood as a "Campaign for Living Will Legislation" candidate http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2001/rp01-036.pdf in the Kensington and Chelsea parliamentary by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
occasioned by the death of MP Alan Clark
Alan Clark
Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark was a British Conservative MP and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade, and Defence, and became a privy counsellor in 1991...
. Polling took place on 25 November, and Irwin gained 97 votes, putting him 9th out of 18 candidates. Michael Portillo
Michael Portillo
Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party politician and Cabinet Minister...
was elected. For more details see this Wikipedia page.
Irwin, who was President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies
World Federation of Right to Die Societies
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia.It is made up of 46 associations from 27 countries. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death....
from 2002-2004, and a Director of that organisation from 2004-2006, has also been Chair (1996-1999, 2001-2003) of the British Volunary Euthanasia Society (now known as Dignity in Dying
Dignity in Dying
Dignity in Dying is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to have 25,000 actively subscribing supporters...
).
In 2003, Irwin hit the headlines after he was arrested following his confession that he had tried to assist a terminally ill friend to die. No charges followed, but in 2005 he was struck off the medical register after an inquiry by the General Medical Council
General Medical Council
The General Medical Council registers and regulates doctors practising in the United Kingdom. It has the power to revoke or restrict a doctor's registration if it deems them unfit to practise...
. He has also claimed to have helped at least 50 terminally ill patients to die.
Secularism and Humanism
Irwin is a 'distinguished supporter' of the British Humanist AssociationBritish Humanist Association
The British Humanist Association is an organisation of the United Kingdom which promotes Humanism and represents "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs." The BHA is committed to secularism, human rights, democracy, egalitarianism and mutual respect...
.
Since 2005 Irwin has sponsored the National Secular Society's
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
£5000 Secularist of the Year
Secularist of the Year
The Secularist of the Year award is presented annually to the individual considered to have made the greatest contribution to secularism in the previous year by the UK's National Secular Society. The prize is a cheque for £5000; it was first awarded in 2005, and is sponsored by Dr...
award, which is known as the Irwin Prize. In 2006 he founded the Secular Medical Forum http://www.secularmedicalforum.org.uk.
On 15 September 2010, Irwin, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
's state visit to the UK.
"Family Doctor" Booklets
- Travelling Without Tears. London: British Medical Association, 1964. pp.30.
- The Truth About Cancer. London: British Medical Association, 1969. pp.31.
Public Affairs Pamphlets
- Check-ups: safeguarding your health. no.314. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1961. pp.18.
- Overweight: a problem for millions. no.364. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1964. pp.20.
- Blood: new uses for saving lives. no.377. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1965. pp.28.
- Viruses, Colds, and Flu. no.395. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1966. pp.20.
- What Do We Know About Allergies? no. 486. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1972. pp.28.
- Overweight: a problem for millions. Revised edition. no.364a. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1973. pp.24.
- Asprin: current knowledge about an old medication. no. 614. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1983. pp.24.
- Can We Survive Nuclear War? no.625. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1984. pp.28.
- Nuclear Energy, Good or Bad? no.629. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1984. pp.29.
- Risks to Health and Safety on the Job. no. 644. New York: Public Affairs Committee, 1986. pp.28.
Criticism of the World Bank
- Banking on Poverty: An Insider's Look at the World Bank, Cato Foreign Policy Briefing 3, 20 September 1990.. Reprinted as Chapter 31 of Danaher, Kevin (1994). 50 Years is Enough: the case against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Boston, MA: South End PressSouth End PressSouth End Press is a non-profit book publisher run on a model of participatory economics. It was founded in 1977 by Michael Albert, Lydia Sargent, John Schall, Pat Walker, Juliet Schor, Mary Lea, Joe Bowring, and Dave Millikan, among others, in Boston's South End...
. pp.152-160.
Life
Voluntary Euthanasia
- In praise of... Dr Michael Irwin, Guardian, 4 October 2005
- Euthanasia doctor is struck off, BBC news, 27 September 2005
- Euthanasia campaigner to stand in byelection, British Medical JournalBritish Medical JournalBMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
, 30 October 1999