BANNED BRITISH DOCTOR LINKED TO DEATH CLINIC

Dignitas uses struck-off medic to approve patients for suicide

DIGNITAS is sending people who want to die to a banned British doctor for approval they need for an assisted suicide, the Mail can reveal.

The clinic is telling patients to get a report from a controversial psychiatrist struck off nine years ago for seri- ous misconduct. They say that Colin Brewer – who has helped at least 12 patients to die at Dignitas – is pre- pared to support cases even where the patient is not terminally ill.

An undercover Mail reporter posing as a young woman with mental health problems was advised by staff at the clinic that Brewer ‘should be her first try’ because he was ‘open minded’.

And when she approached the psychiatrist, he said he would be prepared to assist her in her bid to kill herself, suggesting suicide would be a ‘relief ’ for her. In a shockingly casual discussion of her wish to die at just 35, he reassured her

that her age would be no obstacle since she was in her ‘middle life’ – and that many people ‘popped their clogs’ in their seventies.

Brewer also advised her it was ‘not wise’ to tell her GP that she planned to go to Dignitas. The revelations will lead to renewed questions over the practices of the secretive Swiss suicide clinic – which has now helped 273 Britons to die. The Mail can also reveal:

Dignitas is facing a major criminal probe into claims it is profiting illegally from the deaths of its patients;

A former nurse at Dignitas claims she was told to loot valuables from those who had committed suicide;

The apartment where Dignitas patients are sent to die is now situated in a shed on an industrial estate – directly above a café selling burgers and hot dogs;

Some patients have had to kill themselves in cars at the roadside because there were no premises available.

It emerged this week that a father-of-three, Jeffrey Spector, 54, had killed himself at a Dignitas clinic last Friday after sharing a final meal in Switzerland with his family.

The actions of Mr Spector – who was not terminally ill but feared an inoperable tumour growing on his spine would leave him paralysed – have fuelled fierce debate about right-to-die laws in Britain.

As part of an investigation into the practices of the clinic, an undercover Mail reporter approached Dignitas this week to ask whether it would consider her application for assisted suicide. The results reveal how chillingly simple the process is for Britons – even for those with non-terminal conditions – to arrange their death through Dignitas.

The reporter said she was a woman of 35 with mental illness, and wanted to end her life. In response, an adviser spoke to the reporter on the phone for 20 minutes giving a step-by-step guide to arranging her death with Dignitas – by obtaining medical assessments, then travelling to Switzerland for final approval. The adviser explained that anyone applying to die simply needs a written assessment from an ‘expert’ in the UK stating the patient is of ‘sound mind’.

This gives the patient the ‘provisional green light’ to travel to Dignitas where they will have their application for assisted suicide rubber-stamped by a Swiss doctor. This first stage was usually the most difficult, because finding a psychiatrist who would ‘dare to talk about this’ would be difficult, the staff member said.

But they advised the reporter to speak to Brewer, saying: ‘He is quite open minded. He should be your first try.’ When the undercover reporter approached Brewer – giving him the same medical history – he said that the process would be ‘complicated’ but added: ‘I’d be willing to see you and at least start on the assessment process.’ He advised our reporter not to tell her GP of her plans.

Brewer also revealed he is seeing someone who wants to kill themselves due to a non-terminal mental health condition that isn’t related to old-age – adding: ‘If she is successful it would be the first case in Britain.’

Brewer – who lives in a £2.5million townhouse overlooking the Thames, where he also sees his patients – also said the reporter’s age would not be a problem. When she told him she was 35, he replied: ‘Well, that’s middle life and certainly used to be middle age when people popped their clogs in their 70s. So I don’t think the age is a problem here.’

When she asked about the fact she had not got a terminal illness, he reassured her: ‘Non-terminality is not an issue [for Dignitas].’

Brewer did say, however, that the process would take ‘a few months’. The psychiatrist added: ‘I wouldn’t be happy myself if I just had to do a report of this importance just on the basis of a single interview… be patient.’

MPs, doctors’ groups, campaigners and charities said the revelations were ‘outrageous’ and called for an investigation.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal, with a maximum penalty of life in jail.

Brewer confirmed Dignitas had referred around 12 patients to him. Although he did not say how much he charged, he said it was ‘less than a tenth’ of the £3,000 that patients would have to pay for a complex assessment at a Harley Street Clinic. He said: ‘Any suggestion that I do these occasional assessments for essentially financial motives would be a gross inversion of the truth.’

He said he was legally entitled to carry out such assessments and always made it clear to patients he was not on the medical register. He added: ‘I do not provide treatment. Reports to Dignitas are carefully scrutinised by the Swiss authorities.’

The Department of Health said: ‘This is a shocking investigation. We urge anyone experiencing depression to seek NHS care, rather than unregistered practitioners.’

Dignitas declined to comment on the Mail’s evidence, the police probe, or any of the claims made by the former nurse.

‘I don’t think age is a problem here’