Ribeiro qualified as a doctor at Middlesex Medical School in 1967 and then specialised in surgery, five years later being awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).

From 1979 until his retirement in April 2008, he was consultant general surgeon at Basildon Hospital with a special interest in urology and colorectal surgery, pioneering the use of invasive keyhole surgery,[3] and helping to establish the Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's advanced laparoscopic unit.

[7][8] He was created a life peer on 20 December 2010, as Baron Ribeiro, of Achimota in the Republic of Ghana and of Ovington in the County of Hampshire.

This bill aimed to make it legal for doctors to provide patients medication that would end their life if they chose.

[16] In 2007, Ribeiro responded to two of his colleagues Maynard and Ayalew, detailing how establishments such as Royal College of Surgeons of England are working to implement patient-reported outcome measures for elective surgical procedures.

In 2012, Ribeiro was appointed Chairman of the Independent Recognition Panel, whose responsibility was to advise the Secretary of State for Health.

Ribeiro was also added as a member of the European Union's Home Affairs Sub-Committee in the House of Lords.