Police quizzed us as my husband braced for death by choice
THE wife of a man who took his life at a Swiss clinic said their last precious moments “were racked with fear and anxiety” as police questioned them.
At least 16 people have been investigated after taking family members to Swiss assisted suicide clinics.
Ann Whaley said last night that instead of “sharing memories and saying goodbye”, she and her retired accountant husband Geoffrey were interrogated by police before his final trip to the Dignitas clinic.
She has vowed to honour his memory by fighting to change the law in assisted dying.
Mr Whaley, 80, of Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, who had motor neurone disease, had arranged to die at the clinic near Zurich and ended his life last week.
One of his final acts was an open letter to MPs calling for a change in the law, which began: “By the time you read this, I will be dead.”
Mrs Whaley, 76, said the UK legal system cheated the couple out of precious weeks together.
Legal constraints meant Mr Whaley had to be physically able to travel to the clinic, rather than being able to die at a time of his choosing at home.
An anonymous tip-off to Thames Valley Police led to the couple being interviewed in the days before Mr Whaley’s death.
Mrs Whaley said: “Geoffrey died peacefully in my arms, surrounded by family and friends.
“But if he’d had the choice of an assisted death here at home, we could have been spared this horrific ordeal.
“We could have had a few more weeks or months together, as Geoff would not need to be physically able to travel.
“We could have spent the last three weeks in peace, sharing memories and saying goodbye.
“Instead, several hours of my final days with my husband were spent under police interrogation, and the remaining time was spent racked with fear and anxiety. To me, this is woefully wrong.”
Mrs Whaley added: “The only way to cope with the torment we have experienced is to share it in the hope it may prevent another family enduring the same.
“I am determined to honour Geoff ’s legacy by fighting for a change in the law that will allow terminally ill people control over their lives and deaths.”
Research by campaign group Dignity in Dying reveals there have been 15 other cases in which police took action amid trips to assisted dying clinics abroad.
Alan Rees was told he would be handcuffed and his house searched unless he co-operated with police, two years after he took his partner to Dignitas.
Retired accountant Mr Rees was arrested in June 2009 at his home in Hackney, east London, after witnessing the suicide of his partner Raymond Cutkelvin, 57, who was dying of pancreatic cancer, at Dignitas in 2007.
He was later released and bailed for 13 months. In June 2010 the Crown Prosecution Service said it would not be in the public interest to prosecute him.
Mr Rees, 66, said: “At a time of grief I was being questioned and whoever made the decision to do that should not have done so.
“I never thought I would be in a situation where I had to plan my partner’s passing. To add this invasion, arrest and investigation by police is awful. I was angry.
“In the same way I could not believe the police interviewed Mr and Mrs Whaley before they went to the clinic. It’s appalling and the law needs to be clarified.”
Under the 1961 Suicide Act, anyone helping or encouraging someone to take their life could face up to 14 years in prison.
In 2015, MPs voted overwhelmingly against changing the law to allow doctors to help the terminally ill end their lives.
Faith groups and campaigners also fear assisted dying would become a business and disabled people may feel pressured to end their lives.
A survey of 1,005 UK GPs last month showed 55 per cent thought their medical authorities should
‘I shall honour Geoff’s legacy’ ‘The law needs to be clarified’
adopt a position of neutrality on the issue.
Doctors were evenly split on a change in the law, but 43 per cent said they would want the choice for themselves if they were terminally ill and suffering.
It is estimated a Briton travels to a Swiss clinic to die every two weeks, more than 300 terminally ill people end their lives at home every year and around 1,000 lives a year are ended by doctors illegally at the patient’s request.
Meanwhile Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable, once a firm opponent of assisted dying, said yesterday he had changed his mind and was now backing a change in the law.
He said that after talking “at length” to campaigners, “it is clear that these fears and reservations can be addressed: that strict safeguards can be built in to protect both the patient and the doctors involved”.
The Metropolitan Police said that all forces had to gather evidence in cases where someone had come to harm or died suddenly, which then needed to be tested by the CPS.