Dutch euthanasia expert to give Londoners tips on suicide

Sixty people have already signed up to hear retired psychiatrist Dr

Boudewijn Chabot give tips on death by starvation and dehydration when he visits next week.

His trip is the second in a fortnight by "DIY death" experts. Australian Dr Philip Nitschke, known as "Dr Death", was held for nine hours by immigration officials before being allowed in to host his workshops.

Euthanasia is illegal in Britain and it is also a criminal offence to assist someone in killing themselves. This means a growing number of Britons are paying to visit the assisted-suicide clinic Dignitas in Switzerland.

Dr Chabot denies he backs euthanasia but told the Evening Standard doctors should be allowed to give patients a lethal overdose as a last resort.

In an exclusive interview, he said: "I'm not an activist like Mr Nitschke — my approach is very different. It's always a difficult decision to inject lethal medication but it's the compassionate thing to do in these cases."

In 1991, Dr Chabot was arrested in the Netherlands for providing a fatal dose of medication to a patient. He has published a scientific guide to DIY suicide in the Netherlands to help people end their lives quickly and painlessly.

The free workshop on 16 May, "One Way to Die — Stop Eating and Drinking", is based on his guide, which contains detailed information on using drugs as well as "committing" suicide by starvation.

The Standard can also reveal that at least one terminally ill London woman has used this method to end her life, without the law being broken. Efstratia Tuson, 84, died in a private London hospital in January after a five-day suicide "strike" in which she refused food and drink.

Her daughter Pamela, 58, from Belgravia, said: "Choosing how to die is the most basic of human rights. The law here is outdated and barbaric — you don't leave animals to suffer like my mother did."

Dr Chabot, who trained at the Maudsley Hospital's Institute of Psychiatry, also backs death by lethal overdose for patients with terminal conditions and who are in extreme pain. In our interview, Dr Chabot denied he supported euthanasia but said he hoped his visit would lead to a change in the law on assisted suicide. He said: "I support choice at the end of life. If I was in that situation I would want to die by lethal medication.

"It's horrible that people have to travel to Zurich and dying by starvation should only be used as an emergency exit. Every human being can apply it if they long for death and no doctor is willing to assist."

Dr Chabot says he "stands by" his actions in helping a Dutch woman — who was never identified — to kill herself. Charges against Dr Chabot were dismissed but the ministry of justice took a test case to the supreme court on the grounds his patient was not physically or terminally ill and that Chabot had not acted in an emergency. They ruled he was guilty but would not be punished because he had tried to persuade the woman to reject suicide. He is still allowed to practise as a doctor.

Physician-assisted suicide is legal in Holland as long as doctors keep to strict safeguards.

Choosing when we die is a human right'

Efstratia Tuson took five days to die after starving herself at a leading London private hospital in January.

The retired Greek teacher, 84, from Middlesex, was suffering a rare stomach disease and was in constant pain. Doctors were unable to give her a lethal overdose of drugs, so she refused food and drink. Her daughter Pamela, 58, of Belgravia, said her mother had signed a living will and was a member of the Swiss assisted suicide group Dignitas. But Dignitas had a three-month waiting list.

Her daughter said: "It must be made easier to go to Switzerland or relax the law over here. Choosing when to die is the most basic of human rights. The law's barbaric — we don't leave animals to suffer like this. My mother was suffering terribly."

The law in Britain: Doctors have the final say on withholding care including food and water, but it is not illegal for patients to starve themselves. Anyone who refuses water or food must be reported to the Care Quality Commission. Their death would be recorded as a suicide. Physician-assisted suicide using a lethal dose of medication is illegal.