Suicide clinic cases ‘not terminally ill’

Patients ‘seeking to legitimise an end to suffering’

PATIENTS travelling overseas for assisted suicide are ‘not terminally ill’, new research has revealed.

Instead, patients are travelling to suicide clinics in Switzerland because they are ‘suffering’ from the effects of long-term illnesses and want a ‘socially acceptable’ death.

Experts from the University of Glasgow examined the motives of patients planning trips to assisted suicide clinics.

They found that while patients were suffering from a range of chronic illnesses – including skin conditions, cancer and dementia – none was ‘in the last six months of life’.

Seven anonymous patients who were planning to die in Swiss clinics spoke to a researcher about their reasons.

The findings lift the lid on the ‘beliefs and motivations’ of patients planning the trips.

Pro-life campaigners warned the research shows patients are choosing to die out of fear they will become a burden.

But right-to-die groups said the £5,000 trips can only realistically be afforded by the ‘middle classes’.

Assisted suicide is illegal in the UK despite an attempt to change the law in Scotland by the late MSP Margo MacDonald.

A handful of Scots travel to Switzerland every year for assisted suicides.

Dr Naomi Richards, researcher in End of Life Studies at the University of Glasgow, said the health conditions of the patients in the study varied.

The patients, six women and one man, were aged 52 to 93 and suffered from a number of conditions including cancer, skin disease, frailty, suspected dementia, multiple sclerosis, spinal pain, vertigo and osteoarthritis.

Five of the seven patients Dr Richards interviewed are known to have subsequently made the trips, but the outcome of the remaining two is unknown.

She said: ‘Most of them did not have a terminal illness or a lifelimiting illness. None of them were in the last six months of life. Their conditions were chronic rather than life-limiting. But it is not a requirement of these clinics that patients have lifelimiting conditions, rather that your suffering is unbearable.

‘There were reasons why peomay ple wanted professional assistance to die rather than taking their own lives. There was some social legitimacy or social acceptance because a doctor was acknowledging their suffering. It was about control and certainty.’

Dr Richards was put in touch with the patients through the Scottish-based campaign group Friends at the End. She said this have affected the results of the study as it deals with more ‘complex’ cases but believes the patients she interviewed were ‘not untypical of those being helped to die in Switzerland’.

Sheila Duffy, of Friends at the End, said: ‘If you are wealthy and intelligent you will be able to get there easier than someone who is not, and that’s the sad truth.

‘It costs around £5,000 to make the trip. It is absolutely a middle class route. But it is not pleasant. Travelling to a foreign country to spend your last days in a cold, sterile hotel room is a horrible way to die.’

Alistair Thompson, spokesman for pro-life campaign group Care Not Killing, said: ‘This is so sad. It shows those who are fearing a deterioration of their condition, and those with chronic not terminal conditions are opting for assisted suicide.

‘This is one of the reasons why we have argued against changing the law because we know many people will feel obligated to die rather than a right to die.’

‘About control and certainty’