My heart goes out to my friend Tony Nicklinson, but the law must NEVER allow anyone to kill another person
After the crushing news that stroke victim will not be allowed to end his life, former Lord Chancellor’s view of the ultimate moral dilemma...
TJONY Nicklinson can’t talk, can’t walk, can’t feed himself and can’t wash himself – all the legacy of a devastating stroke seven years ago. Once an active, energetic and charismatic figure, Tony’s quality of life has become so compromised that he is desperate to end his life.
I first came to know Tony and his impressive wife Jane when I chaired the Commission on Assisted Dying. He submitted a detailed written proposal to the Commission arguing for a scheme with safeguards that would allow people in his position – those who are unable to take their own lives, but are clear that they want to die – to be helped to do so.
I visited the couple’s home in Wiltshire to discuss these extremely difficult legal, ethical and moral issues with them.
Despite the emotionally charged circumstances, Tony and Jane’s house is not at all depressing. Tony’s room is on the ground floor and looks on to their small garden. He can sit in a chair, although that is becoming increasingly difficult.
He communicates mostly through Jane holding up a board with letters on it and him indicating by eye movements which letter he wants, and then making words.
He can also type into his computer which then speaks the words he writes. Tony can watch the TV, but is soon bored.
The room is lined with photographs of Tony, Jane and their two grown-up daughters. They are a close and loving family. ANE is quiet, clear in what she says, and profoundly loving of her family. She makes the home a happy home without injecting any false jollity. She deals with what has happened to Tony with understanding and insight and with great practicality.
Once, while I was visiting the couple, a pro-life campaigner, who was there as part of a radio broadcast, suggested that if Tony ‘got out more’ he would not feel the same urge to die. Jane dealt with this woman incredibly patiently and without embarrassment. Jane is also remarkably honest about the fact that she herself does not want Tony to die, but her commitment to him is such that she is supporting his campaign.
Tony and I disagree on the critical point about whether it is right that someone can kill another person, or whether the law should not go beyond assisting suicide.
But there is no better place to debate these issues than Tony’s bedroom. He is very forensic, in the sense that he will deal with the specific point being made, and generally demolish it.
He is focused, and he is strong. His emotions are very apparent. If I make a bad point, or a point with which he disagrees, he will convey clearly either distress or contempt for the point being made.
On the wall of his bedroom is a photograph of him at a rugby club dinner in Dubai, when he was in his healthy prime. Debating the issues with him is like a rugby match in which the other side has the heavier pack and the faster three-quarters.
It’s very difficult to say no to Tony. He wants to be able to die at a time of his choosing. He is so physically disabled he cannot take his own life, so he wants someone to kill him, without that person being guilty of murder.
He asked the courts to allow that, but on Thursday judges said No. Even though it was a big ask, and he knew it would be a major change in the law, Tony was devastated.
Even with help, he could not kill himself. If he were to die other than by illness or starvation, someone else would have to kill him. Tony’s mind is in perfect working order. He is completely clear that he does not want to go on living as he does. He wants to be able to die at a time and in a manner of his choosing.
Although he does not want to die now, he knows he does not want to go on living indefinitely. There is no doubt that this is his free and voluntary wish.
Tony is a very impressive man. His intellectual energy is apparent and formidable. He is absolutely clear that he dislikes his life intensely.
While he is not ready to die now, he passionately wants to be able to die with dignity and does not want to be condemned to go on living the life he currently has indefinitely.
He recognises that what he wants would involve someone killing him, but he argued that if the Commission was going to be prepared to allow certain people, subject to safeguards, to kill themselves with assistance such as a prescription of lethal drugs, it would be discriminatory and unfair to those who were too disabled to take their own lives to prevent them from doing so too.
And Tony argued that it will very often be the people in his position who will most want to end their lives.
The view the Commission took, and which I share, is that the law does need to be changed to allow people with a terminal illness to be helped to take their own lives.
WE concluded that the right to be assisted to die should be available to those who have only 12 months or less to live, and it would also have to involve the person killing themselves and not being killed by someone else. Suicide, not euthanasia.
Ultimately I believe that it is a step too far for the law to allow one person to kill another because the person wants to die. The dangers of allowing the law to take that stance are greater than any benefits.
Tony, perhaps more than anyone in recent times, has drawn attention to the issue of the extent to which you should have control over your own death. He has put the issue on the agenda because of his personal strength and immense clarity.
He is truly a remarkable man. He may not get the full change he wants, but when change to the law on dying comes, as it surely must, no one will have contributed more to it than Tony.