'It's about love, choice and dignity': Wife whose husband died at Dignitas issues final plea to MPs for law change

18 November 2024, 08:56

The wife of a man who died at Dignitas has issued a final plea to MPs ahead of the vote on assisted dying.

Julie Casson, 66, lost her husband, Nigel, in 2017 after 10 years of suffering with Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

He turned to Dignitas as his "cure" after deciding he wanted to "die smiling".

"He knew that he would lose that spirit, he would lose his personality and his sense of fun, his sense of humour and his sense of self," Ms Casson told LBC.

"He thought, 'I'm not having it. If I don’t step in now, this disease will beat me, and I’m not going to let it.'"

Though the family were devastated, they knew there was no going back.

And now, Ms Casson is sharing her husband's story to build awareness ahead of the assisted dying vote on November 29.

Having sent her book, Die Smiling, to every MP earlier this month, she hopes to convince them that everyone deserves the right to "choose how their lives end".

Read more: Health Secretary Wes Streeting orders staff to look into costs of introducing assisted dying

Read more: Brits want new assisted dying laws to go even further, poll reveals

"They can really read it and see that this is about a normal family, about love, choice, dignity and ask themselves how it can’t be right to put an end to suffering and to enable people to choose how their lives should be able to end," she said.

"Just question the injustice of the current situation that people are going through.

"People are suffering unbelievably gruesome, agonising deaths.

"Whilst palliative care might be as good as it can be, it doesn’t help everybody, control and choice are being denied.

"Think about how fair this is for those mentally competent, terminally ill adults who are obliged.

"It's agonising leaving somebody behind, but for those people who are desperate to end their lives and trying to commit suicide time and time again and failing what are we putting people through? It’s utterly heartbreaking."

The bill has faced growing criticism due to the risks of coercion and people feeling as if they have no choice.

But Ms Casson believes all the necessary safeguards are in place with the proposed bill, with it having similar characteristics to Dignitas' measures.

"I’ve been slightly irritated listening to the arguments against the bill, about vulnerable people, slippery slopes, the disabled… this has got nothing to do with the disabled or vulnerable people," she said.

"People are talking about maybes and what ifs and possibilities whereas this bill is written for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

"It seems people saying ‘oh we can’t possibly let this happen’ are not thinking about those people. I’m really concerned it’ll get stopped because it’s the easiest thing in the world to do nothing."

Ms Casson continued: "The coercion – of course I get that – at every step of the way with Dignitas it was the very same thing.

"They have to be completely sure that you have not been coerced in any way, that you are fully in control of your mental decision-making capacity."

She added: "The degree of evidence they require is significant and it’s good because any degree of coercion or uncertainty would be picked up.

"Also, right to the very last second, you have the opportunity to change your mind. And this bill allows for that as well."

The one area Ms Casson does have doubts over is the restriction to those who have just six months left to live.

Under the bill, anyone wanting to go ahead with the process will need to be signed off by two doctors and a High Court Judge.

It has been reported that the process could be carried out in just 21 days - but in reality Ms Casson thinks to have a decent reflection period it should be much more spaced out.

"There’s quite a lot to get in within six months and to give time to reflect between each stage," she said.

"There needs to be an opportunity for the person to consider everything and that is a lot to get done in six months.

"If someone truly is about six months from death it could be quite problematic.

"Any procedure of this nature needs to be thorough without any opportunity for missing anything or getting something wrong."

She added: "Nine months to a year might be better."

Ms Casson argued that if this bill had been passed when her husband was around, he would have been able to live for longer and die surrounded by loved ones at home instead of "in a strange place, strange country, with strangers".

"One of the massive downsides with having to go to Dignitas is you’ve got to go while you can still get there," she said.

"If this law had been in place for Nigel, he would, without question, have lived longer and he would’ve been able to die at home.

"As a family, it’s walking away from him, it’s leaving his body there. In a strange place, strange country, with strangers. That was horrific."

While the bill is only for those who are terminally ill, LBC revealed earlier this week that almost half of Brits felt that it didn't go far enough.

Some 46 per cent of the UK public want to see assisted dying for those with a non-terminal or degenerative illness, Savanta research found.

But Ms Casson said she felt the country wasn't ready to go any further than the proposed measures.

"I’m with the bill," she said. "I support the bill and the constraints it has in it."

She continued: "There are bound to be the most tragic stories where people are in intolerable suffering and yet are not terminally ill but I don’t think this country is ready for anything other than what the bill is proposing."

"We are ignoring this section of society," she explained. "We’re all going to die, we are all encouraged and conditioned to take control of our lives, and yet controlling our deaths is utterly denied us.

"It just doesn’t seem fair to me."