Most Britons who had assisted deaths in Switzerland were not terminally-ill, study shows
Most Britons who ended their lives at assisted dying clinics in Switzerland over the last eight years had non-terminal illnesses, according to a new study.
The research showed that out of 405 UK residents who had assisted deaths in Switzerland between 2016 and 2022, some 201 or 49.6 per cent had neurological conditions.
These conditions included Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and locked-in syndrome - none of which are classed as terminal illnesses.
A further 21 cases, equivalent to five per cent, suffered from “intractable pain” and 13 people or three per cent had some form of dementia.
In comparison, just 22 per cent of UK residents who died through a medically-assisted death in Switzerland had a potentially terminal physical illness, namely cancer.
The study, published in February 2023 in the BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care Journal, was undertaken by researchers from the pro-assisted dying campaign group “My Death My Decision” (MDMD).
It was based on data collated on the health diagnosis of British citizens, provided by three Swiss assisted dying organisations – Dignitas, Pegasos and Life Circle.
The study’s authors say their findings make a case for the law to be changed in Britain to allow people with any condition that causes “irremediable suffering” to have an assisted suicide.
They argue that this legal right should not be predicated on whether someone is terminally ill and criticised a push by some campaigners to lobby for legislation which allows those with less than six months left to live to have an assisted death.
On Friday, the paper’s lead researcher Dr Colin Brewer, a retired psychiatrist on the clinical advisory group for MDMD, said: “What we found is most of the people who go to Switzerland from Britain do not die within six months or even 12 months.
“If the law was limited to those who have been diagnosed with less than six months to live this would exclude a large number of the people who we found wished to have an assisted death, such as those with Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and locked-in syndrome.
“What MDMD would like to see is a law which allows people with irremediable suffering, as well as terminal illnesses, to be allowed to have a death through assisted dying.”
Dr Brewer clarified that MDMD was not calling for those with psychiatric conditions to be allowed to die through assisted suicide.
His comments come in contrast with another campaign group for assisted suicide, Dignity in Dying, which wants a law that limits assisted dying to people with a prognosis of six months or less.
‘Chilling’ proposal
Dr Gordon MacDonald, the chief executive of Care Not Killing – which opposes the legalisation of assisted dying – condemned the MDMD study as “chilling” and said it was an “extreme version” of already dangerous proposals.
He said: “It would see the introduction of a law similar to the ones used in Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands, where a system initially sold to the public as being for terminally ill people has expanded to include, disability, degenerative non-terminal conditions and even mental health problems.
“In Belgium and the Netherlands, the fastest growing reason for people having their life ended via euthanasia is for neurological conditions, even though many lack the capacity to make that decision.”
The study comes amid growing calls for assisted dying to be legalised in Britain, with high profile campaigners such as Dame Esther Rantzen, Dame Prue Leith and Jonathan Dimbleby backing the change.
Assisted suicide is against the law in the UK and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
In February, Parliament’s health and social care committee (HSCC) said it was looking “increasingly likely” that territories such as the Isle of Man or Jersey would legalise assisted dying and the government should consider how it would react to this relaxing of the rules.
