For a woman who spent the majority of her life travelling the world and living for a long time in South East Asia, Penelope Blume's death could not have been more different.
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Barely able to move and struggling to breathe as the debilitating effects of motor neurone disease took hold, Blume died in her Canberra home on March 15.
One aspect of her death, however, was precisely as she had lived much of her 68 years - in the arms of her husband Neil O'Riordan.
On that night, after months of successfully delaying the inevitable, O'Riordan carried out his wife's final wish by helping her end her life in a manner of her choosing.
Leaving on her terms, before her illness left her unable to do so.
It was a selfless act on O'Riordan's part, and one he knew would likely cause him significant consequences, but it was "motivated wholly by love and compassion".
This is what ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold determined after examining Blume's death and then deciding to drop the one charge of aiding or abetting a suicide hanging over O'Riordan.
He decided it was not in the public interest to prosecute a loving and compassionate husband in such circumstances.
After Victoria passed voluntary assisted dying legislation last month, O'Riordan said it was a conversation all jurisdictions and the federal government needed to have.
"I think that voluntary assisted dying is a topic that is here to stay and it's not something that is going to go away," he said.
O'Riordan and Blume spent 35 years together all up with some "ups and downs" along the way. A shared love of travel and food took them around the world to the Pyramids of Egypt, Angkor Wat and they lived for a period in Bangkok. Blume was a Buddhist and O'Riordan described her as "a calming influence" in his life.
"I will be eternally grateful that our paths crossed and I'm the better person for the experience, despite recent events," he said.
They were overseas when they discovered Blume was unwell, first encountering some nerve issues. Eighteen months later and tests showed significant degeneration and the diagnosis was motor neurone disease.
O'Riordan said the couple decided to keep their Bangkok townhouse and stay there until Blume was no longer able to manage the stairs, before returning to Canberra.
"I suspect for Penelope, who'd always enjoyed pretty good health, that having a body that didn't work anymore was catastrophic and a lot of her thinking, through her Buddhist practice, was about getting herself ready," O'Riordan said.
The couple had discussed the right to choose the end of your life regularly throughout their relationship, O'Riordan said they were lucky they were "on the same page" about the topic and knew it could be more difficult for others.
"Neither of us wanted to be living in nursing homes, neither of us wanted to be dependent on other people for everyday activities," he said. "Penny had a rule that when she couldn't feed herself anymore and she couldn't wipe her own bottom she didn't want to be here anymore."
Blume put a lot of research and time into her decision to end her own life. The couple examined Switzerland as a possibility and even Victoria.
"We made preparations around Victoria but my wife wanted to die at home and at a time and a place of her choosing," O'Riordan said. "The only decision for me to make was to support her."
O'Riordan described his wife's decision to end her life on her own terms as "the bravest thing" he had ever seen. But he also convinced her to prolong her life as long as she was comfortable.
"I told her I would never be ready," he said. "It would be a matter of when she was in the right place she would need to tell me."
Since his wife's passing, not only has O'Riordan had to grieve, but he's had a criminal charge hanging over his head.
He was grateful for Mr Drumgold's decision and displayed no resentment over the fact he was charged, saying the police treated him with the utmost compassion.
But while he was not surprised by the fact he was charged, O'Riordan said he hoped legislators at all levels would turn their minds to voluntary assisted dying.
There are many people all around Australia facing the immensely difficult situation he knows all too well.
The only decision for me to make was to support her.
- Neil O'Riordan
"My wife's condition was not uncommon, but there's lots of other horrible things that happen to people as well," he said.
"More people will say I want to choose what my death will look like.
"I'd like the ACT to consider it, I'd like the Commonwealth to consider its position in relation to its capacity to overrule territories.
"But I'm not a legislator, I think it's up to our communities to express an opinion and our parliaments to make a decision about what is in the community's best interest."
The ACT government cannot legislate on voluntary euthanasia laws because of a move in the 1990's by the Howard government to prevent the Northern Territory introducing legislation to allow it.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr labelled the fact the territories could not consider the matter absurd, considering Victoria's new laws and other states moving in the same direction.
"That blanket ban on the territories considering these matters is undemocratic," Mr Barr said. "I think Canberrans would want us, their federal representatives and their representatives in the Legislative Assembly, to continue to advocate on this issue because it's not going away. I do know from research what Canberrans think about this and more than 80 per cent of our city want movement on this issue"
Mr Barr said he had advocated for the federal parliament to allow the territories the power to legislate but perhaps in the short term it would be necessary for Commonwealth legislation to be introduced that applies in the ACT. He warned that without proper policy direction the ACT risked more cases of people taking their own lives and facing criminal prosecution.
When dropping the charge against Mr O'Riordan, Mr Drumgold made it clear that it was not to be taken as a precedent for how such matters would be dealt with in future.
The charge against Mr O'Riordan was dropped purely on the specific circumstances of Ms Blume's death.
"It must be made clear that the exercise of my discretion in this matter is in no way intended to provide guidance on how to aid a suicide and avoid prosecution," he said.