Left to suffer for 13 days

JOSH Aaron-Mennie took a call from his mum in August telling him his gran was dying. He tells here how the events of the next 18 days made him determined to campaign for a change to the law. It was early August I got the call from my Mum to come home from Glasgow and back to Aberdeen. The family have been advised that grandma is in end of life palliative care,” my mum told me. “It’s not good, Josh, the doctor advised she could go at any time.”

I left immediately, only packing enough clothes for a few days as I assumed it could happen imminently. Instead, I sat at my grandma’s bedside for 18 days, witnessing her linger while in insufferable pain. It was the hardest thing I’ve had to watch but nothing in comparison to how she’d be feeling, and I would not let my grandma die alone.

She was in and out of consciousness often, waking up and saying how sore she was. “It’s time, I need to go, they wouldn’t let an animal suffer like this. Why is it taking so long?” she begged. She was a devoutly religious woman and was ready to meet her maker. She also wanted a dignified death and would have chosen that option if allowed.

People in her circumstances are denied that. I’d often hear nurses say, “We will do everything we can to make her comfortable”, but there was no comfort in what she lived through.

Five days after my arrival, grandma was taken off food and liquids to ease her journey into passing on. “People don’t live longer than four days without food and water,” said one of the medics. I wish this statement applied to my grandma, and I know she wished the same. Instead, she continued to endure for 13 days without any sustenance.

Those 13 days were the longest of my life and that of my family, and my grandma’s.

I made a promise to my grandma I‘d do everything I could to ensure no one should have to go through what she did. I am calling on the Parliament to support people to have the right to a dignified death and will be bringing forward proposals to the SNP.

This is not about infringing people’s ability to live but about allowing people the right to choose to end their pain when the time comes.

She was denied even dignity in her death