Dr. Libby Wilson was a founding member of Friends at the End helping to set up the organisation in 2000.
Libby was a champion of choice, working primarily in the fields of family planning and right-to-die. The eldest of three children, she was born in Surrey to Lucy and James Bell Nicoll who had not long returned to the UK from their missionary work in Africa.
Initially working in general practice in the early 1950s she became aware of the difficulties in obtaining contraceptive advice, especially if you were unmarried. She was a founder of the 408 Clinic, one of the first family planning services available in the country for single women. In 1967 Libby moved with her family to Glasgow and worked for the Family Planning Service.
During this time Libby refused to let societal conformities stop her in her own mission of giving women of all ages, colours and classes choice over childbearing and sexual health. With her clear cut English accent and mischievous sense of humour she stepped over the thresholds and boundaries of women living in the most varied of circumstances, from dire poverty to middle-class society, and offered help and support in the form of the pill or ‘just a little jag’ of the contraceptive injection.
Following her retirement aged 64, Libby went to Sierra Leone for a year to work with Marie Stopes International and in 1997 she published a book called ‘Unexpected Always Happen’ documenting her year in Africa and in 2004 her autobiographical account of her family planning work ‘Sex on the Rates’.
On her return she became a member of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Scotland after being introduced by a friend. Later, with others, she set up Friends at the End. Through her work with Friends at the End Libby pushed for right-to-die legislation in both the Scottish Parliament and Westminster; Libby’s work with Friends at the End also saw her work with those living with incurable illnesses and conditions who wanted to consider their end of life options. Libby helped hundreds of people at the end of their lives, being a constant source of support at the end of the telephone – day or night, driving up and down the country to visit people, to help them with their medical records or to write living wills etc. She put herself out there, completely for the benefit of others, and helped countless people have a happy and peaceful death.
A regular on television and radio until her late 80s, Libby was not one to shy away from the controversy often caused by her campaigns. Instead she spoke freely about her beliefs and used the publicity to further promote her causes, always driven by the principles of allowing people to make choices about the start and end of life.
Libby went on many trips with her right to die work and was very active in the international right to die movement travelling to various world federation and European conferences ranging from Tokyo in 2004, Melbourne in 2010 and Zurich in 2012. Libby was a prominent pillar of the right to die community, she sat on the seven member board of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies from 2002-2004 and received the World Federation Health Professionals award in 2010 –this is an award given every 2 years to the healthcare professional who has set a good example to other doctors and nurses in the international right to die movement.
Libby was someone who was not afraid to stand up and be vocal about what she believed in, especially when it was a matter of principle, as the founding Patron of Friends at the End this value set ensured that the organisation went from strength to strength under her directorship and we continue to work with her legacy at the forefront.