York widow calls for assisted dying law after Dignitas trip

Julie Casson's husband Nigel was diagnosed with incurable Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in 2007. He died in the Zurich clinic of Dignitas, the not-for-profit assisted dying clinic in Switzerland.

Julie, who shares her time between homes in York and Scarborough, has just published a memoir about the experience, titled Die Smiling, and is calling on the Government to change the law to allow assisted dying in the UK.

Her calls echo those of broadcaster and veteran campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen who wants MPs to be given the chance to debate and vote on the issue in Parliament.

Family photo February 2007, shortly after Nigel's diagnosis of MND (Image: Supplied)

Dame Esther, 83, the former TV presenter and Childline founder, has stage-four lung cancer and announced last year she had joined Dignitas. To date, Dignitas has helped 540 British people die.

A petition - inspired by Dame Esther's public plight - for a parliamentary vote on the issue of assisted dying has received more than 100,000 signatories, the threshold for which a debate in Parliament is considered.

Julie said: "I would like a change in the law. If people read my book, hopefully they will understand why Nigel made that decision. To deny people the chance of assisted dying - people who are dying and who are intelligent and mentally capable - is beyond cruel."

Julie and Nigel's tragic story began in 2007 when the Bradford-born businessman was diagnosed with MND at the age of 52.

The disease affects the brain and nerves and causes weakness that gets worse over time. There is no treatment or cure.

It has been in the headlines recently thanks to rugby legend Kevin Sinfield who has raised millions for the cause by running ultra marathons in honour of his friend and former rugby team mate Rob Burrows who has MND.

The progression of Nigel's disease was slow, but after ten years he was becoming increasingly disabled, and feared becoming trapped in his body. It was at this point he decided he wished to take control over his own fate and began planning to go to Dignitas.

Simply taking this decision, Julie said, brought him peace. "Having that choice was really liberating for him. Like he'd just got out of jail."

But "going to Dignitas" is not an easy option, she insisted. "It is incredibly complex. You can't just rock up and expect to be put out of your misery."

April 24 2017 - the Casson family on Dolder Grand Terrace in Zurich, the day before Nigel died at the Dignitas clinic (Image: Supplied)

Potential users of the clinic first have to join the organisation, but to be "green lighted" for assisted dying requires many boxes to be ticked. Patients have to display full mental capacity, be able to administer the lethal drugs by themselves, and provide full medical records of their incurable or terminal condition. There are also many checks while in Zurich to make sure the dying person wishes to proceed with the act.

Julie says the checks are so thorough and could easily be incorporated into any new law on assisted dying in the UK. She says these checks should reassure opponents of assisted dying who fear it could undermine the lives of vulnerable people in the UK.

"A change in the law in the UK would be full of safeguards."

There are many reasons why she supports such a change.

The first is that people who are terminally ill are often disabled or in constant pain - and the journey to Zurich is long and difficult.

Julie said Nigel - who was wheelchair-bound - could not have travelled to Switzerland by public transport, so they hired a large camper van for the trip which had been converted for disabled use. They travelled the 850 miles in 24 hours – Nigel, Julie, their three grown-up children Craig, Eleanor and Rebecca, with Rebecca's husband Darryl taking the wheel.

Also, taking the Dignitas route deprives the family of a funeral. Once the loved-one has died, relatives have to leave them at the clinic where a cremation occurs locally and ashes either collected or sent on afterwards.

The cost is also prohibitive for many people - around £10,000.

Another problem, said Julie, is that often people have to die sooner than they might have chosen because (a) they have to be well enough to travel and (b) they need to be able to administer the lethal drug themselves.

She said it would have "meant the world" to Nigel had he been able to have assisted dying in the UK.

"He would have had a goodbye party - he could have hung on a bit longer. Maybe we would have had another six months with him."

Julie is a supporter of Dignity in Dying which is campaigning for assisted dying in the UK and which claims 84 per cent of the British public support this choice for terminally ill adults.

Ahead of the election, Dignity in Dying is calling on political parties to put the issue into their manifestoes and commit to ensuring any future bill can be fully scrutinised, debated and put to a free vote in the next Parliament.

Julie said people could support the cause by joining Dignity in Dying, and writing to their MPs on the issue.