Sean Davison, a professor at the University of the Western Cape, made headlines when he was arrested in New Zealand for matricide. The story that emerged – how he helped his ailing mother to die – is the subject of his affecting book Before We Say Good-Bye.
This second book, After We Said Good-Bye, takes up the story from there: his arrest, trial and sentencing and the dramatic events that followed after this soft-spoken, unassuming man took the most fateful decision of his life; one which tore open family rifts and posed fundamental questions about life and his choices.
With unwavering frankness, Davison faces his demons: Should he have done what he did? Ought he to have exposed his family? Was it the right thing to self-sensor the first edition of his book and conceal the fact that he had administered the morphine? And how should he come to terms with his sibling who had leaked the uncensored manuscript that lead to his arrest?
It is estimated that huge numbers of people die through assisted suicide, and the author has become a vocal activist for the right to die in dignity. Sean Davison was born in Auckland New Zealand and spent most of his childhood on the West Coast, gaining a doctorate in microbiology at the University of Otago. He is Professor of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town. He heads the DNA Forensics Laboratory which has initiated a project to prove the innocence of people wrongfully convicted of crimes using DNA testing that was not used at the time of their conviction.
