THE debate on assisted suicide has been brought to the fore once again thanks to author Terry Pratchett’s controversial documentary, which showed the final moments of a man who had chosen to end his life in a Swiss clinic.

The unsentimental portrayal of the last moments of 71-year-old Peter Smedley, who decided to take his own life rather than continuing his decline through motor-neurone disease, attracted almost 900 complaints on the night it was screened earlier this month.

One senior politician described the programme, Choosing To Die, as “repugnant” and it drew inevitable criticism from religious groups who feared it put a case forward for euthanasia.

The outcry merely highlighted what a contentious issue this is. Should freedom of choice come above everything, even if the choice involves the ultimate decision a human can make? Or does the purpose of an overseas organisation such as Dignitas, which helps people to end their own lives, go against every human, spiritual and medical notion of what is right?

St Leonard’s Hospice has been looking after the seriously sick and terminally ill in York for 26 years.

As the row over assisted suicide goes on, two leading figures at the hospice in Tadcaster Road decided to speak out on why nobody should feel the need to end their own life due to a decline in health.

Martyn Callaghan, St Leonard’s chief executive, said: “Not everyone has the option of ending their own life, either by assisted suicide or by euthanasia because of the law of the country and because not everyone can afford to go to Switzerland.

“Then there are people with long-term conditions and those who may be living with severe conditions but may not be immediately terminal. Perhaps we should not look at assisted suicide or euthanasia, but at quality of care.”

Mr Callaghan said: “You only have to look at social care and health care in this country. We are an ageing population and people don’t have big pensions any more. If you think you are going into old age and facing poor quality of care, then you are going to have poor quality of life.”

So what is the answer if we do not want to live in a society where people with terminal illnesses feel they have no other option than to take their own lives?

Martyn believes the solution lies in the quality of care available to those facing a debilitating decline.

He said: “If you can improve health care and social care, then peoples’ attitude will change.

“If they know they can have a better standard of care, then maybe the attitude to assisted suicide will change. We have a good national health service, but it’s overstretched, and we know that with the ageing population it’s going to get further stretched. We need to work with private providers and hospices to ensure quality of care.

“We have got to start putting plans in place now for our ageing population. We have to reach a quality of care for the future. People are going to want different things for the different stages of their lives.

“We need to provide the choice for people to live in their own homes and receive good quality care. Then you may not get that question of whether people should consider assisted suicide.”

Janet Morley, Martyn’s colleague at St Leonard’s, is a passionate supporter of the work carried out at the hospice and, as head of fundraising, has been instrumental in keeping the Tadcaster Road facility running.

Janet said: “The whole ethos of the hospice movement in the past is to give people a quality of life when there was no possibility of treatment or care.

“The role was not to shorten life or prolong it but to care, and that care was extended to the rest of the family and that hasn’t changed.

“It’s holistic care; we address all their needs and fears. People will be frightened of pain and they will be frightened for their relatives.

“They may have spiritual needs too which need addressing. We need to work as a team and we have experience in all these areas. The fear people feel can actually add to their physical pain. We support families, pre- and post-bereavement, and we are very proud of that. They can come back if they want support afterwards.”

Opposing views

ACCORDING to umbrella organisation Help The Hospices, 82 per cent of the UK thinks the law should be changed to allow doctors, with consent from the patient, to assist the death of those suffering a painful and incurably terminal illness.

That view, however, is at odds with the medical profession, with 64 per cent of doctors questioned in 2009, saying they did not want euthanasia or assisted suicide.