Tonight:
5°c
Cancer patient's partner risks arrest as he speaks out to change law on assisted suicide
Sophie Goodchild and Anna Davis15 Jun 2009
A London man today risks prosecution and up to 14 years in jail by telling how he helped his partner of 28 years to die in a Swiss suicide clinic.
Alan Cutkelvin Rees, 56, turned to euthanasia group Dignitas after Raymond Cutkelvin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and refused chemotherapy.
Mr Rees took Mr Cutkelvin to the Dignitas clinic in Zurich in February 2007.
He decided to speak to the Evening Standard now as ministers face increasing pressure to overturn laws which makes it illegal to help others to die.
Today Mr Rees, a former juice bar owner from Hackney, gives a frank account of how he was with Mr Cutkelvin, 58, when he took barbiturates, telling him repeatedly "I love you" and holding his hand as his life ebbed away.
He recalls how the sun was shining and there was a breeze blowing through the curtains as Raymond took his last breaths.
He remembers repeating "I love you" as the man he had shared the last 28 years with ended his fight against cancer through assisted suicide.
"I'd been keeping all my emotions in until then because Raymond wanted me to be strong for him," says Alan, 56, a former businessman from Hackney. "It would have been hard if he'd seen me upset. But when he died I got very emotional."
Raymond chose to die in a suicide clinic in Switzerland, run by Dignitas in February 2007. Terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, he took a lethal dose of barbiturates after paying a fee of £4,500.
Alan has decided to break his silence for the first time although he runs the risk of a jail sentence of up to 14 years.
Relatives who accompany terminally-ill patients to Switzerland to die face arrest on their return to Britain.
His mission is to force the Government to clarify the law on assisting suicide.
"What I've done is illegal in this country," said the former owner of a juice bar. "They can arrest me if they want but the law needs to be changed. I would have helped Raymond die, no matter what. He wanted to die with dignity, not waste away."
Attempts to legalise helping people to die abroad are gaining momentum.
Multiple Sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdy is having her application to clarify the law considered by the Law Lords so her husband can take her to a suicide clinic without being prosecuted.
A group of peers, led by two former ministers in Tony Blair's cabinet, has launched a bid to lift the threat of prosecution.
Former lord chancellor Lord Falconer and Baroness Jay, a former leader of the House of Lords, have tabled an amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill which would end the risk of jail for friends and relatives.
Alan hopes their efforts will succeed. He is still outraged Raymond had to die "in exile". "The attitudes in this country are so draconian," he said.
"It was his choice to die. I miss him every day. When I wake up in the morning for a few minutes everything seems okay. Then I remember he's not here. There will never be anyone else."
The Government is opposed to changing the law, and Dignitas is facing questions over its motives.
One former employee claimed it was a "production line of death concerned only with profits."
Founder Dr Ludwig Minelli is coming under increased scrutiny from Swiss authorities over his methods and has been forced to move his clinic after complaints from neighbours.
But that is unlikely to deter people like Raymond and Alan, who is now a member of Dignitas. He is prepared to end his life in the same way if he felt there was no alternative.
Tests in August 2006 revealed a large tumour in Raymond's pancreas but doctors were unable to operate.
He had treatment at the Whittington hospital in north London but refused chemotherapy and started looking up euthanasia sites on the internet in secret.
Alan, who met the former post office clerk through friends in 1979, said: "I ignored it when Raymond found out he had cancer. I pretended everything was going to be okay. But he was determined this was what he wanted and I respected that. He was in a lot of pain so I agreed to help.
"He began deteriorating in front of me - I could see the difference on a daily basis. If we had left it any longer Raymond would have been too weak to travel. There was nothing more doctors could do."
The couple, who had a civil partnership ceremony in November 2006, flew to Zurich with Raymond's niece Simone, friend Michael Critchley and euthanasia campaigner Dr Michael Irwin.
When they arrived they saw a doctor from Dignitas, who confirmed it was Raymond's decision to die.
Then they went to a hotel for a Thai meal and Raymond took morphine for his pain but had a restless night. "I cannot explain how I felt," Alan says. He is softly spoken, but the grief is clear.
"I thought about how tomorrow would be the day of his passing, and the last day we would ever spend together."
The next morning, the group took a taxi to an apartment in a quiet suburb. A woman called Erica showed them to a room which Alan describes as "beautiful, bright and airy".
There was a bed near the open windows and the sun was shining, he remembered.
After completing paperwork, Raymond listened to songs by Julie Andrews, The Righteous Brothers, Dionne Warwick and The Four Tops.
He asked to take the first of the medication that would settle his stomach before he took a fatal dose of barbiturates.
After drinking the liquid, he ate some chocolate to take away the bitter taste then danced with his niece.
Alan is tearful when he describes Raymond's last moments. "I held one of his hands while he rested his other on my hip.
"Erica returned to the room with the barbiturates, Raymond clasped his hands together as if in prayer and gently bowed to each of us in turn, resting his eyes finally on me.
"He took the glass and swallowed. We looked at each other and I hugged him." Within two minutes Raymond was asleep but could still hear so Alan repeated "I love you, Raymond" until he died.
Erica informed police who Alan said were "very polite and understanding".
Dignitas sent Raymond's ashes back to the UK and they were interred in his family plot in Edinburgh.
Alan, without a job because he had been Raymond's full-time carer, applied for Funeral Payment, a state benefit, so he could give Raymond a burial. But it took several attempts and a legal appeal before the Department for Work and Pensions would pay the £600.
He said: "They told me it was the first case they had come across of the burial of someone who had died in an assisted suicide. So they didn't know what to do."
The experience has made Alan more adamant it was the right choice. If necessary, he said, he would have given the drugs to Raymond himself.
"I loved him and could not allow him to suffer. To me, it would have been an act of kindness and compassion."
Reader views (80)
My father has recently died in a great deal of pain and discomfort of renal failure, cancer of the pancreas. It is barbaric that we insist people suffer in this way, if he had been allowed to end his life when the intense pain started his life would only have been shortened by a couple of days. Its madness and heartbreaking
- Gwen, Birmingham, 18/07/2009 21:23
Report abuse
No-one has the right to determine whether another person should end their own life or not.
There are few people who would want to live a life of pain and not being aware of what was happening around them.....there are many who would prefer the choice of dying before that point was reached. There are even more who would ask for assisted suicide if they could be sure that their assistant would not be punished.
- Annetta, Derbyshire, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I absolutely agree with what Alan Cutkelvin Rees did for the person he love.
- Jude Cleary, Cullompton, Devon in England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I haven't died of a serious and painful disease but a close relative of mine did - and that is the only terms of reference anyone can have on the experience. She, my mother, had cancer which became increasingly painful when, mercifully, she died peacefully from complications.
Just how much morphine did it take to kill the pain? Never enough - and many, many, people will continue to die under terrible circumstances. It doesn't have to be about relatives making decisions. It is about the ill, while they are capable of doing so, being able to express treatment preferences for the late stages of their disease, especially if Switzerland is out of the question.
There are people who don't want to think (or maybe don't want us to think) about what for most us will be the nasty, messy business of dying - let alone tackle the rigidity of the 'sanctity of life' framework that perpetuates this kind of suffering. Its about compassion for the dying as well as for the living and events like this continue to be a wake up call to us all.
- Philip C, brighton, east sussex, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Some of these people who are against a change in the law would probably have been against the introduuction of anaesthetics for childbirth in 19th century - there was a vocal movement then claiming it was 'against biblical teaching'. We've moved on from that - isn't it time to make some progress at the other end of life?
Incidentally, the childbirth issue was helped when Queen Victoria used chloroform for her last labour - perhaps we could get one of the current lot to sign up to Dignitas!
- Jo, Kent, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Clarrisa. First you have my sympathy, sorry for your pain and that of your loved ones.
But you want to change the law in a way that might one day effect me or my family. And I'm not going to keep quiet about that.
Assisted suicide is wrong. There's no dignity in an injection. Who decides who should live or die? The doctor? The patient? You? What if the patient has no family? Does the state decide? What if the patient is in a mental hospital? Should they be killed if they become ill? What if a patient want's to end their life for a reason that you might not agree with, yet still wants your help?
To be clear, in case I wasn't; if you wanted to help (as you see it) your loved ones, there was nothing to stop you. You don't need a change in the law to be compassionate (again as you see it). But I don't want to be part of a system that murders its weakest.
- Sean, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Everyone should have the right to decide on what they do with their lives, just as they have many choices throughout life. If my husband was able to choose I feel sure that he would be horrified at the life he is leading and would welcome the choice to decide. Knowing the man he was over the past 80 years I know he would hate his exsistance now, and if he could he would welcome the choice of whether he lived or died.
- Estelle, Stanmore, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
We are kinder to our pets at the end of their lives than we are to our own kith and kin. It is appalling that the terminally ill are not able to make a coherent and reasonable decision to end terrible suffering (mental or physical). What can possibly be gained by drawing out the last few days, weeks or months in order not to interfere with nature. Nature is notoriously unkind and unjust and is manipulated so often in this modern world - look at IVF and even surgery. We simply MUST be allowed to make our own decisions at the end of life.
- Lesley Mott, Thame England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Sean,
Regarding your answer calling me a coward, I don't quite follow your reasoning. I do know that as long as my father was more or less able to communicate, he made it quite clear that he wanted to die as soon as possible and, most importantly, while still compos mentis. As to finding a way to help him out of his misery, I had not yet heard of Dignitas and had absolutely no idea how to help him. I had a similar experience with my husband who had a massive stroke and, from one day to the next, went from a highly intelligent, exceptionally strong man to become a vegetable. This ordeal lasted for two years, his brain intact, the rest appalling. Paralysed, unable to speak, incontinent but in full realisation of what had happened to him. He too begged me to put him out of his misery by using his left hand (the only thing that still worked) and signalling for me to help him cut his throat. If ever I should find myself in a simlar situation, I would hope to get to Dignitas while still able to travel.
No, not cowardice, Sean, an immense pity for the sufferer and an unnecessarily undignified, painful death.
Compassion not cowardice.
- Clarissa, Vienna, Austria, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I would like the option to end my life if i had a terminal illness. It's deemed cruel to let an animal suffer, so why can't we have the option to 'go' peacefully.
- Tilly, Chester UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I believe strongly that carers should not be prosecuted if they help loved one take their own life. My heart goes out to Alan and I applaud his courage in speaking out. The law needs to be changed to allow people to travel to Switzerland or the best solution would be to allow euthansia to be carried out with safeguards in the UK.
- Kate, warwickshire, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Most people who are against euthanasia have never had to deal/look after someone they love who has had a terminal illness and is suffering excruciating pain. If they had they would want to put them to sleep. It has been said many times, but I will repeat it - if it was an animal we would want to not see it suffer,& we would put it to sleep. My family are aware of my wishes, I do not want to suffer, nor do I want to be totally dependent on anyone, I want to be in control of my life. Finally, why do the dissenters think that if euthanasia becomes lawful people will be doing away with their loved ones to access
cash/properties etc. The emphasis should be on the word VOLUNTARY, that is what the law should be changed to allow VOLUNTARY Euthanasia, and of course safeguards would have to be built in, as it would with any moral reform.
- Freda Salway, Cardiff, Wales, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I've had a super life, I am 70 & still reasonably fit. But I saw my Mother & her sister who - in their 80s - had had enought of being topped and tailed by strangers, however kind. They had no choice, but I hope very much that I will be luckier than them, and have the choice to die when I am ready. Not everyone can be in a well run hospice, not everyone has avaricious relatives & all too often the state of hospital/care home care for the elderly is to be avoided at all costs. Also I am allergic to so many things, plastic. nuts, dogs & cats, my own sweat if I am unable to warn about this, it is inevitable that message passing about these oddities between helpers will not be 100% either. And in the future probably money will not be available to the extent that it will be needed by the old; frightening.
Barbara James
- Barbara James, Bangor Wales, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
If you have not got a medical reason for the use of euthanasia, then you should keep your views to yourself, try a day no a month relapsing with MS as i have time and time again just in the past few years.Allow debby purdy and the rest of us who summon the courage to make the desicion ours with no repercusions to our loved ones.
- Jimi, North Devon., 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Dignitas(or something similar) has got to be allowed in the UK.
If and when my time comes I will not use dignitas(too expensive!) but I will be taking my own life in the comfort of my own home with friends and family around me, and woe betide anyone who objects or trys to waste the courts time and taxpayers money bringing a prosecution...
all the naysayers should be forcibly sent to dignitas and put down..
- Cameron, Glasgow, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
How sad. We are allowed to choose on all aspects of our lives, except how to end them. My heart goes out to these men.
- John Smith, Somerset, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
up to 14 years for this?
But only 19yrs for stabbing to death an innocent kid.
Its good to know the law is there to protect us.
- Kedge, marlboro wilts, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Well done Alan - youqq are a loving and brave man and what you did was right. We all deserve the right to die with dignity and UK law should be changed in favour of euthanasia.
- Derek, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
John in Knebworth is CORRECT. It is grossly immoral and inhumane to FORCE innocent people to suffer and that is why if a person who is in too much Pain or feels that there is Nothing more to live or SURVIVE for, then that person has the RIGHT Principally, Morally and Ethically speaking, to CHOOSE to end his/her life as humanely and decently as possible as the decent gentlemen in this article and numerous others have done, instead of the institutionalised, money ant time-wasting drugs-experimentation culture in the UK. Even among the elderly, etc who FEEL that they would rather die like this than be abused by the system of so-called "Care", they too should have the CHOICE of assisted suicide.
- Claudine, London, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
If an animal was in great pain it would be put to sleep if nothing could be done to ease the pain,so why is a human allowed to live in pain?? we should be allowed to make our own decision it is OUR life so why should someone else decide that i have to live in pain.
- John Shackleton, Knebworth, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
After reading all the comments,left on this item it shows this is such a difficult issue,and people on both sides have very strong view's.
I hope I never have to face this issue myself or with my Partner.
Without judgement,my thoughts,prayer's and best wishes go to Alan
So true!
As has already been said, this issue is open to abuse and there would have to be many criteria to be fulfilled before one is allowed to assist with another's suicide or release from pain - in dignity.
I've been spinally injured for over 30 years during which time I have spent a lot of time in general hospitals and specialist hospitals. As has been said in an earlier comment, there is no dignity in being in hospital. I am very fortunate that my wife, who knows all of my requirements, will cover my care while I am in hospital. It's not fair on her but the alternatives are dire. Even when she is not there, at night for instance, the care is terrible. Nurses are great people but they do not get paid enough, there are not enough of them and they are very overworked.
I do not want to die in hospital. I want to die in my own bed at home - when the time comes. Not paliative care in some hospital where they do not know how to deal with spinal injured patients [bed sores become a very real possibility with more pain] The levels of morphine do not help - believe me. I take morphine every day. People looking at me would say I am fine- not so!
Change the law to all let people die - with DIGNITY
- Paul, Southampton - Hants, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
There are good reasons why changing the law on assisting suicide is surrounded by difficulties. There are undoubtedly persons who would help ease a sick person out of life if they were to gain financially by it. But lthough some unbearable illnesses are not fatal, we could make a start by not forcing dying people to travel abroad before they wish to quit the world simply because they must do the deed before their illness makes it impossible. The evidence from those places where assisted dying is legal shows that the suicide rate drops when people know they have the ability to die when they choose.
- John Parfitt, BRISTOL UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Glennm. I think your comments are puerile. At least I had a go at the argument. If you help a sick relative die what exactly are the consequences? Apparently they're so terrible it forces you to watch a relative die in pain.
All I said is if I really, really believed it's better for a parent to die sooner rather than "suffer", I wouldn't care about the law, or the consequences. I'd do something about it. Has anyone actually been found guilty for doing something like this? Or even prosecuted? No. Yet people still hide behind it.
And the writer I made a comment on never said what their parent would have wanted, and yet you don't seem to find that despicable (correct spelling by the way). I realise that these are grown-up themes we're talking about here but you really should try a little harder to understand before you make a comment.
- Sean, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The law on his issue is an ass and needs changing. If I am very ill and in pain I should be allowed to choose to die - which we all will one day anyway. Does it really matter if I choose to go a few days or months early???
- Jeremy E, Home Counties, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The problem with these issues is that the majority doesn't want to think about their death while alive and kicking.
Adam talks about putting someone down like a dog. Is that such an inhumane way? I for one would prefer it like that. I have written down and filed under what circumstances I would like to 'be put down'. No other should have to make that last decision. Not my family or partner nor my government or any other. It should be my right and my right alone.
- Mark, Barsingerhorn, Netherlands, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
After reading all the comments,left on this item it shows this is such a difficult issue,and people on both sides have very strong view's.
I hope I never have to face this issue myself or with my Partner.
Without judgement,my thoughts,prayer's and best wishes go to Alan
- Selwyn Channon, epsom, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
My father is in the latter stages of a terminal disease, but physically remains strong and reasonably positive. His greatest fear is losing his dignity and becoming a burden and my mother has already said she will assist him when the time comes, either officially, abroad, or by obtaining the necessary means herself. Their views have been gently explained to the family and we support them fully. The fact Dad is now assured dignity has afforded him the peace of mind to enjoy his life as normally as possible now, when he previously fixated on 'the end'. I agree that each case should be judged separately but we are entitled to decide how we live and eventually pass on and I don't think a government has the right to dictate whether that right is legal or not (in any case the amazing nurses responsible for home pain administration in this country know exactly when to up the final dose - they have no vested interest in anything apart from the wellbeing of the patient and their family). Until a terminal illness affects you, or a loved on, it is impossible to really understand assisted suicide. 'Cowardly' is a word so untrue as to be laughable.
- Daughter, Near London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
It seems so wrong that terminally ill patients are not allowed assisted suicide in this country. And that those who help them go to Switzerland can then be liable for prosecution. Noone lives forever - not even the lawmakers. Why must anyone live a living death of pain and torment and not be allowed the peace and dignity of euthanasia? My father died an excruciating death of cancer of the liver - the last weeks he was so drugged that he could no longer communicate but, from what we could tell, he was still in ggreat pin. Had I been able to curtail his suffering, I would most certainly have done so.
- Clarissa, Expat - Vienna, Auria, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I wouldn't necessarily agree with prosecuting them in Britain, simply because their crime was not based on British shores- if I commit a crime in Australia I shouldn't have to face prosecution for it in Britain. But it's a far cry from saying the procedure should be legalised in Britain. Everybody- young or old, healthy or sick- has inherent dignity, and so the deliberate taking of life is undignified. Money and research should be directed at helping to relieve pain and suffering in someone's last weeks, not in putting them down as though they were a dog.
- Richard, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
There really is no evidence for the ‘terrible floodgates’ or the ‘tens of thousands of vulnerable people’ being at risk (as Alex S fears) if assisted suicide is made legal.
Vulnerable people can be defined. For example, the elderly, women, minors, those with low socioeconomic status, from racial and ethnic minorities, with physical disabilities or mental illness. They were looked for in the figures published over many years from Holland and Oregon, USA.
There was not an increased share of such vulnerable people among those ending their lives with physician assisted suicide. This can be read in the British Medical Journal of 29 September 2007. It is in a paper by Professor Timothy E Quill, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine, New York.
Alex S need not be anxious
Peter Bruggen
- Peter Bruggen, London UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
You are a brave and compassionate man. I hope if I ever find myself in the same someone loves me enough to do the same for me. Change the law and allow people to make their own decisions.
- Sarah, Bristol, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I admire Alan Rees' courage in supporting his partner and in now speaking out. The law on assisted dying must be changed on the grounds of sheer humanity and the ract that the majority of the public support a change in the law. It is strange how religious people, who often oppose such a change, always seem to oppose legislation that would improve people's lives and outlook. What a negative attitude they always have; let's put human beings and their welfare first!
- David Bennington, Ruislip UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Assisted suicide is already practised here. In reality, it is more like assisted murder.
When my dad was in his last few days of terminal kidney cancer, his morphine pain relief was increased and eventually he slipped into a coma, from which he never awoke.
So did he die as a result of the cancer or as a result of a very high dose of morphine? He appeared to die peacefully, but the decline over 10 months from kidney cancer reduced him from a socially active outgoing man to an shadow of his former self unable to walk or visit the bathroom unaided.
He maintained a positive outlook almost until the end even though the Sutent drug he was taking made him feel dreadful. Would he have chosen a Swiss Euthanasia approach? Absolutely not.
If birth and entry into this world is painful and traumatic then why should our exit be anything different?
- Adam, Harrow, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The law has to be changed to allow anyone who is suffering, the choice to how the end comes. I agree it has to be thoroughly thought through to prevent abuse, but it can contain regulations on the current mental state of the individual concerned, and they MUST be the one who makes the final decision. The medical profession already helps assisted suicide in an unspoken way with increased doses of morphne, we just need a law to make it legal
- Steve, Poole, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
>A Brown, London UK
>WHY DO THE LAWS IN MY COUNTRY HAVE TO BE CHANGED TO >ACCOMMODATE SPINELESS GUTLESS DEADBEATS AS YOU >TERMINALLY ILL FREAKS ?
Oh dear, Let's hope this person does not need to nurse somebody in their last days like I an many other people have had to do.
I think the best we can do here is point at laugh at this odd poster.
- Curtis, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Suicide should be an option for the individual to decide. Life is plentiful and bringing forward the death of a terminally ill patient a few weeks seems completely reasonable. Please no church comments - if they wish to tell their congregations not to suicide they can do so from the pulpit and leave the modern ways to modern poeple.
- Mr Pastry, Brisbane, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
It is interesting how anti-euthanasia proponents always seem to go on about how 'vulnerable' people are likely to face abuse in the face of legalization. Most people are not as 'vulnerable' as they would like to make out, believe me. We are talking about adults making their own choices here, not children: the 'vulnerability' issue is bandied around far too much. Moreover, I support the brave decision these people make to end their suffering and I hope our politicians can come out of the Dark Ages and start to change the law to reflect public opinion on the matter.
- Sarah, High Wycombe, UK., 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
My father in hospital with a stroke, one night pulled all
medication from his body, i contained and subdued him only to endure a further 24hrs of pain before he passed away. He knew he didn't want to be here anymore, who are we to suppress that dignity.
- Tony, Romford england, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
It is a disgrace that Alan had to take Raymond to Switzerland to achieve what could so easily have been done in the UK at less cost and hassle if only our politicians woke up and chnage the law to allow assisted suicides with safeguards. How many more couples have to go thorough this trauma before common sense prevails?
- Simon Shearer, Edinburgh, Scotland, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Richard, London, writes: "Everybody- young or old, healthy or sick- has inherent dignity, and so the deliberate taking of life is undignified".
"Dignity" is a quality that we choose to see - or not - in others, therefore there's absolutely nothing "inherent" about it. I only know what I'd want if I had the option of a few more pain-filled weeks of life, or a merciful death. It also seems that palliative care ("Money and research should be directed at helping to relieve pain and suffering in someone's last weeks...") has its limits, and being ostensibly "pain-free" but drugged out of my mind has little appeal either.
Sign me up for an English version of Dignitas!
- Croyboy, Croydon, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I believe in assisted suicide. I'm not sure the law needs changing, particularly where dignitas is concerned as no-one so far has been prosecuted. It doesn't serve any purpose to do so. Police always interview those concerned as thus far has been deemed not in the public's interest. Many people are under the misapprehension that pain can be controlled, it isn't. One does not want to reach a time when bathroom needs have to be carried out by a third person. lt is all about dignity. Some of us are too ill to travel. It isn't easy to commit suicide, the fear of failure is a real concern. Of course there is a real fear of people killing off unwanted relatives and the vulnerable being taken advantage of but for your brain to remain intact whilst your body fails you is untenable. I choose how l live and i will choose how l die, regardless.
- Wendy, Kent, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
We prosecute people who let their animals suffer needlessly, but we prosecute people who, when asked, relieve the suffering of a loved one. Proper euthanasia laws protect the vulnerable and the mentally ill. Witness the laws of the state of Oregon in the US.
Death is the natural end of life. The physical suffering of the terminally ill serves no purpose other than to appease those who fear death or who cannot empathize with the agony of those who wish to hasten their certain and imminent death.
Those who seek aid in dying should be helped, and those who wish to help them should be assisted. Those who cannot understand the difference between hastened death and murder should be educated.
- Cendra Lynn, Ann Arbor, USA, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
In Holland the euthanasia laws are very liberal and have been tested for decades now. No, we don't have "vulnerable" people queuing up at the clinics, nor running for their lives. No, we don't kill good old Gramps on his 85th birthday. Everything is very well regulated and one can die in peace and with dignity.
- Robert, richmond bc, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I believe it is impossible to formulate a general rule or outline with regards to demise. Each case has to be Judged on it own merits and as things stand Judges are hiding behind the rules of law. I have serious concerns about Dignitas and the endless campaign being run across the media to lighten these rules which only further ensures they do not change. It is being handled all wrong.
I do not believe it is right to have rules which are being broken we either have to change the rules or impose the rules, but allowing the breaking of rules further breaks the regulation in this country.
- Gary, brentwood, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Clarissa. What a coward you are. I don't believe in assisted suicide (it's murder), but if I did I wouldn't be afraid of helping my sick father die just because I might end up doing a couple of months in an open prison. I'd end his pain, somehow. That's if I thought like you. Thank God I don't. Strangely you don't say anything about his wishes. Funny that. And by the way I watched my father die of cancer too.
- Sean, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
To Scotty, Cambridge- sadly, your account from the time your son was in hospital sounds depressingly familiar. No institutionalised care can ever match the personal approach a family can give, and it's deeply sad the routine, functional care offered by the NHS is standard(although no specific criticism of them, staff are paid to do a job, not get too emotionally involved). But even though dignity was no doubt lacking, it doesn't in any way lessen the dignity of the elderly people there, or the dignity of your own son. Someone's inherent worth isn't dependent on how others treat them, but is something they own as of right. It would be far better if money and effort were put in to seeing conditions improve for all patients in hospital, regardless of their condition. If people were treated with greater respect and dignity as they approached death perhaps there'd be less cause for such a thing as euthanasia.
- Richard, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Sean, your comments are dispicable.
I think we should all be able to choose how we die and helepd to die with a bit of dignity.
As for A Brown, you sad, sad man
- Glennm, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
"Alex S", of London, writes "The law on assisted suicide MUST NOT be changed".
Oh, Alex? ...And on whose behalf are you making such a pronouncement? Do you have a direct line to God, perhaps?
I've a better idea: let's have a sensible national debate about this where the pros and cons of the issue can be considered, then let ALL of us decide in a referendum.
It's called "democracy", you know!
- Croyboy, Croydon, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
If it can be done in Holland and Switzerland, why not here? Well done Alan.
No one should be forced to die in pain.
The doctors, clerics and law have locked away the means to a painless chosen exit.
My life is my own.
- Geoff Lamb, Aberdeen, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Rhea:
On the time it took for her mother to die: "it could have been so much easier for all."
Yes, she did actually write "for all."
Shara:
"It is interesting how anti-euthanasia proponents always seem to go on about how 'vulnerable' people are likely to face abuse in the face of legalization. Most people are not as 'vulnerable' as they would like to make out."
So Sarah, they're in agony to such an extent they want to die, but that doesn't make them "vunerable"?
The number of people on this site who want to kill off relatives is truly terrifying. Not least for their relatives.
- Sean, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
It is trite to say judges are hiding behind the law; they administer it. Sometimes there are issues that go beyond the interpetation of the law; issues that only Parliament can resolve, in my view this is one of them.
In practice, no one who has travelled to [Switzerland]with the objective of assisting a suicide has been charged with an offence; I expect it is considered contrary to the public interest, an administrative decision even though taken by lawyers at the CPS.
What concerns me is the way in which people treat each case like all the others. That simply cannot be the case. We have to treat each case on its merits. Now, who would do that? The doctors? I hope not, as they often see things so differently from many of us. Once we go past a certain point, everyone is fair game. You only have to look at patient's chart with the letters DNR to know a decision about that person's life has already been made; so doctors playing God is not on. Nor are families who may have a vested interest in getting rid of Auntie Flo'. Don't tell me it wouldn't happen because it could.
It is often said that a woman doesn't decide to have a termination lightly. In the main, I'd agree with that but there's sufficient anecdotal evidence to suggest that some women use it as a form of contraception. It seems to me equally possible that the suggestion no one would turn off Auntie Flo's machine unless she was a goner is just as flawed and open to abuse.
- Steven Dale, London, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Courage and compassion, and the freedom to choose how and where to die, should not be illegal, and should be commended, not punished. My dignity would best be affirmed by allowing me to choose the manner of my death and allowing me the assistance I need. There is nothing dignified about a long-drawn out medicalised death in hospital.
- M J Mason, Kingston upon Thames, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Richard,London. I have recently spent 3 months in hospital, not as a patient but as a carer for my son who has learning difficulties. He was in a ward with 4 other men, the youngest of whom was 88. Believe me when I tell you that dignity was unheard of in the ward. They were forced out of their beds and made to try and walk no matter how they felt. Being taken to the toilet by young girlsis far from a dignified procedure for an old person. Pleas for help were largely ignored owing to shortage of staff and they struggled with their food.
Biscuits and cheese were dished up in hermetically sealed packs which none of them could open. Fortunately my little pen knife has tiny scissors which did the job, otherwise they were just collected and dumped with the rubbish.
Possibly if you have the cash things can be dignified, but for the NHS patient..........forget it!
- Scotty, Cambridge UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I'm a person with disability I have 24hrs care & until you have not lived this kind of life you should make judments. I'm makin plans myself to go to swizland.
- Rachel Walker, Rotherham U.K, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Curtis, London. Well said.
- Lf, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
My wife and I have both been members of Dignity in Dying for many years. We have made our plans and whatever the law is we will act as we think fit.Whenever it is necessary one of us will take whatever action is necessary to help the other and will travel to switserland if required. we simply hope the lawmakers will at last listen to the majority and not be influenced by a smaller number of people with outdated views who attempt to force us to believe their own falcehoods.
- Brian Crowhurst, Hawkinge,Kent., 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The law needs to be changed as it has not caught up with current medical advances nor does it preempt our future medical advances.
True assited suicide is illegal,
but I do not think this law is applicable in many ALL OF THESE CASES.
Current law states clearly (for reasons beyond my knowledge) that WE DO NOT OWN OUR OWN BODIES incredible as this may sound I do own mine.
The current law needs CLARIFYING as it is in my learned opinion out of date and out of mode with present day medical thinking.
To clarify my point of the law being out of touch with the reality of modern medicine let us consider the current abortion laws (another hot potato) You can have an abortion up until the 28th week, yet you can save the life of a baby that is born at only 20 weeks. Sorry to upset anyone with this comment but it has to be said that the medical laws are out of date.
And don't get me started on the LAWS and the invaluable STEM CELL RESEARCH which one day (in our life time) will render most life terminating conditions obsolete from the cradle to the grave.
- Peperonichrist, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The law on assisted suicide MUST NOT be changed. All these stories sound very emotional and appealing to your senses, but if the law is changed, then thousands of vulnerable people will find themselves running for their lives. The media does not allow the other side of the argument to be expressed clearly. Do not be deceived by the liberal media who shamelessly portray this issue one-sidedly. THE LAW MUST NOT BE CHANGED! It must be a criminal offence to assist others to commit suicide. Otherwise, it will open terrible floodgates.
- Alex S, London, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Mr Brown in London would soon swallow his words if he ever fell ill and was terminal. What is so freakish about being terminal. Go through it mate then you will eat your words. Im terminal, 52yrs old and when my pain gets beyond help, as it does I know where im going. What right do these ignorant people who maybe fit and well, to call those who are terminal, im sorry this person is sick and I take my hat off to those who are COURAGIOUS enough to do this. This story shows courage, love and understanding
- Barbara, Sherwood, Nottingham, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The one and only problem with assisted suicide is that it both could and would be abused - not by the long suffering patient who deserves every consideration, but for the convenience of such people who would welcome a way to perhaps get their hands on "their" inheritance; to get on with their own lives without the long term incumberance of those they are caring for - and so on. I refer to the cynical, and even to the emotionally worn out amongst the caregivers both. It would also be a method of dealing with a hopeless case for the hopefully decimal point grouping of doctors with perhaps too many such cases on their hands together with a too detached outlook on the lives of the people they are supposed to be caring for.
There are many who want only what is best for their loved ones and even just their duty of care recipients, for all of the right reasons. These, I trust and hope are the vast majority. But those few who are encouraging a decision for the wrong reason are the ones who will inevitably hold back this option from those who most need it - the suffering patient.
- Rogan, Irving, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The courage shown by both Mr Rees & Mr Cutkelvin is to be hugely admired. It is very sad that at a time when one's own home and perhaps other family & friends' contact would also be helpful that a person would need to travel hundreds of miles and pay thousands of pounds to exercise one's desire to make end of life decisions. Laws for end of life decision-making should work both ways: to absolutely protect with safeguards those who want good quality palliative care as standard but also to allow any person (providing they have capacity) to opt for assistance in dying in a way they choose - or to make plain their wishes about this in advance - and for them to be respected.
- Chris, London, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
EDITED by admin @ 14.46 on June 15 2009
Spirit/Tone
- A Brown, London UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
My thoughts are with Mr Rees during his grieving for his partner. I believe what he was loving and honourable thing by supporting Mr Cutkelvin's last wish.
Sometimes it seems to me that the arguments about right and wrong overlook the terrible sadness and hardships families endure when this time arrives. Those who don't believe in assisted suicide are clearly entitled not to elect that option. However to impose their views on others harks back to the moralists of the past whom history has not judged kindly. Previously the law judged what people and could not do legally based on their gender, religion, race, and class. Thankfully those days are behind us. Hopefully one day people will look back on the law against assisted dying and be glad that it too has been left behind.
- Dirk, London, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
How brave those souls are, who go to Switzerland with their loved ones to help them to die gently. There is nothing worse than watching someone you love be in pain and know that they wish they could just die to escape. It is so brave to help them on their way and so disgraceful that there is the possibility of prosecution for so doing.
We each own our own body and so should have a right to say what we do with it, and if that means opting out of a miserable, pain-ridden life, than so be it. Whatever the reason one chooses to die, that reason should be honoured and the courage of those assisting, recognised, not punished.
I wish we had recognised how to help our mother on her way earlier. Now I have to live with knowing that we did not handle her death well; it could have been so much easier for all.
- Rhea, Ipswich UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I would be devastated if I were in a position where I chose to travel abroad to obtain an assisted suicide and could only do so by endangering my loved ones. I consider I should have the right to make such a decision and that those who loved me should be granted the right to help me. It should be possible to organize procedures to protect the vulnerable. Those who feel they would not be able to achieve such procedures should allow others who consider themselves more competent to go ahead.
Everyone should have the right to live as long as they wish and should be given the very best care at all times. But those who wish to live as long as possible should give those of us who do not equal rights to choose our own path.
- Frances Plant, Sutton England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I have immense sympathy for this couple. I am terminal myself and have endured numerous exploratory and 'life saving' treatments, for which I am grateful -and I also have the greatest respect for all those who have cared for me. However, there comes a point where ones quality of life is deteriorating and further medical interventions merely prolong life with little quality and much pain.
If I make the decision that enough is enough, what right does anybody else have - particularly someone who does not know me - to decide to make my quality of life appalling because of their own (usually religious) hangups?
I fully accept that there are areas where such a legislative change could be abused - but this is very unlikely where the individual in question is compus mentis. There could be safeguards built-in to overcome
such problems and I fear that the debate will be dominated by those who are not terminal themselves and either have no experience or are sadly responding negatively because of their own issues.
- Dave, CORNWALL uk, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Choice is essential and the law should be changed to give people the right to manage their own death and protect those that love them.
- Dr. Michael Asbury, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 2BW, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
When are our politicians going to stand up and give people like Raymond and Alan, " The Right to Choose".
Some people are suggesting that it's similar to putting a dog down...dog's are put down to stop them suffering....people should be the same and HAVE A CHOICE. Everyone is entitled to an opinion so come on...everyone should be entitled to a choice.
- Brian Thomson, West Linton, Scotland, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Of course the Law must be changed! The two Peers are acting in the best interests of common sense. My wife and I are longterm members of Dignity in Dying and as the law stands I would certainly have to break the law and assist my loved ones, if it became neccessary. We should all remember the maxim - 'If you did this to an animal- you would be prosecuted!'
- William Hill, Birstall, Leicester, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
The major stumbling block to the change in legislation to allow assisted suicide under controlled circumstances would have to be the belief of the religiously inclined that they have the right to say what others, and some if their own kind, cannot do. Read Kant: people should have the right to do anything, so long as it does not hurt others, or interfere with their right to do the same. If people who think that voluntary euthenasia should not be allowed, they are welcome to subject themselves to that restriction, but not others, not even members of their own families who may want to end their lives.
- Tony Whitmarsh, Melbourne, Australia, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I have never been able to understand why it is considered to be a crime to take ones own life. Furthermore, it is nonsensical and wrong that any one should be prosecuted in this country for witnessing actions actions in a foreign country that are perfectly legal in that country.
- R.W.Pembleton, Tenterden, Kent,, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I wholeheartedly support what Alan Cutkelvin Rees did for the person he loved. No-one should have the right to determine whether another person should end their own life or not. People cope with pain very differently. Some wish to endure it and live until death comes naturally, and for them we should always try to improve medicines and pain-killing drugs, provide better medical care, and finance hospices. Other people, however, don't want to endure severe pain and would prefer relief through death at a time of their choosing. I believe, therefore, that those who choose to end their lives should be helped to do so, with their loved ones around, and with dignified assistance within the law. I shall always be grateful to my father's GP who hastened his patient's death in 1949. Many other medical practitioners have also defied the law secretly for the sake of humanity. It's high time we had a change in the law so that people accompanying a loved one at an assisted death don't live in fear of prosecution, and that important safeguards are in place to protect those qualified, registered medical practitioners who would be willing to be involved in an assisted death.
- Glenys M Wilks, Abergavenny, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I support the proposed changes to the law on assisted suicide. An individual should have the right to self determination. Not everyone copes with illness or pain in the same way and individuals should have the option to choose the manner and time of their dying if they so wish. We are a secular society and the majority of the opponents to these changes do so on the basis of their own faith, but for those of us who do not need a faith we should not have to live our lives under their rules.
Everyone should make an Advance Directive or Living Will, just as they make their Will regarding property, an Advance Directive, sets out your wishes with regard to treatment or with-holding of treatment under different circumstances at the end of life. You are also able to appoint a Health Proxy, someone who can speak for you to the medical team, should you lose the power of speech.
We as a nation are not good at thinking about dying or talking with our family about end of life decisions, but it makes sense to plan for the choices you wish to have just as you plan for other aspects in your life.
We should all have the option to die at home and if we choose to have an assisted suicide, that choice should be ours and legal.
- Alison, Bath, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
It is so sad that this situation exists in UK. Assisted suicide should be made legal in UK in the same way as Switzerland with Dignitas. It should be everyones' choice how they end their lives when they are terminally ill. We treat our pet dogs and cats with so much more respect. I have completed my Living Will!
I fully support the work of the organisation, Dignity in Dying - your life, your choice.
- Peter Bluemel, BENFLEET, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I am a strong advocate of allowing people to die with dignity, helped legally by those closest to them. If antagonists of this view are frightened of relatives who might want to get their hands on an inheritance I offer a simple solution - have two doctors and two lawyers interview the person who has expressed a wish to die with dignity, so that a legal document can be drawn up with the ill person's views clearly stated. It is a tragedy that so many people are forced to go to Switzerland months before they would have had to die because they cannot die in their own beds in this country. It is a travesty that relatives who help people to go to Switzerland (that being virtually the only route open to terminally ill people today) should live in fear of being prosecuted or interrogated on their return. Why are human rights being neglected on this issue? Why can my pet be allowed to die with dignity but not my ill friends and relatives?
- Sylvia Lewin, London, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I cannot believe that anyone thinks that dying from cancer (or other terminal diseases) can possibly be dignified or pain free. As many of you have witnessed, it is absolutely heartbreaking to watch, and I sincerely hope that by the time I need to make a decision about my life that the laws will have changed. I know that great care will have to be taken to protect the vulnerable, but this is no excuse for not starting the process now. To those who disagree, you don't have to 'volunteer' for assisted suicide, and can choose to die in pain with no quality of life if you so wish, but what right have you got to take that choice away from others?
- Op, Milton Keynes, Bucks, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I strongly believe we should all have the right to choose how, when and where we die - as far as possible. I would encourage everyone to write a 'living will'. The more people that write one the weaker the argument becomes that 'vulnerable' people are a reason others should have to suffer unnecessarily.
- Mary Wallbank, Hampshire, England, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
I have been ill for 3 years with an unknown illness. At times I'm scared and angry. If it's discovered that I have something serious, I would want to choose when and how my life ends. No one wants to end their life in pain and indignity.
I watched my father suffer with cancer 13 years ago, and to watch helplessly whilst someone you love suffers so much is terrible. When there is no hope of recovery or to alleviate pain I think people should have the choice to end their lives and to do it where they want and to be able to have their loved ones with them.
- Trish Bruton, Teesside, UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
Let me explain it simply to those who are concerned that legalising assisted dying, or euthanasia, will open the floodgates to murdering inheritance grabbers...
Having seen my father die of inoperable cancer, suffering nausea and mental incapacity from the "palliative care"; I have now, while fit and mentally capable, and having informed my family and GP of my choice, prepared a living will specifying the conditions under which I wish to have treatment withheld so I may die. These conditions include, e.g., incurable cancer, Alzheimers and coma.
It's not beyond the wit of man to safeguard the potentially vulnerable in this way. Why would some of you see me and others suffer needlessly so you can feel self-righteous about thinking you've saved lives?
- Stephen Rothman, Tadley, Hants., 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
In preventing people from the dignity of assisted suicides, both the patient and the carer are subjected to an often prolonged time of intense suffering. Can those objectors truly wish to inflict this on another human being?
- Carolann Martys, Haslemere. UK, 18/07/2009 20:23
Report abuse
