

However, Sue Biggerstaff says the current law forces people like her husband Simon to die in excruciating pain.
Simon was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, or MND, in July 2021 and within a month was paralysed from the neck down. She says his final months were “hateful” because he was in constant pain despite “wonderful” support from district nurses, doctors and a hospice team.
“Simon had intravenous morphine in both legs, and both arms and patches. And he was still in pain. It was unbearable to watch.”
She says Simon had open wounds which would not heal: “They told me that Simon’s body was decomposing while he was still alive. Nobody should be made to go through that.”
Sue says he asked a doctor how long it would take to die if he refused food, and was told about 30 days.
Simon, 65, died 11 months after his diagnosis. She concluded: “I hate having to relive this but I will do it over and over again if it just stops other people having to go through it.”
Clare Barber, a former nurse, is another member of the House of Keys who is backing the legislation. She says she has seen “first-hand” some people unable to have a pain-free death.
“I have worked in intensive care, hospice, nursing homes, and I’ve come across people who have openly expressed a will for assisted dying, because they’re suffering.
“They have absolute capacity and the ability to make those decisions, but they’re not allowed to,” she says.
“We empower people to make decisions about their healthcare all the way through their life, but when it comes to making those decisions around a good death, we take the ultimate decision away from them.”