info@dignityindying.org.uk - 020 7479 7730

“Having been a member of Dignity in Dying for thirty years I fully support the campaign to ensure that all people have, what they consider to be, a good death. The option of an assisted death at the end of life would provide the choice and control we all deserve.”Miriam Karlin OBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My brother John Close died with help from Dignitas in May 2003, aged 55. Motor Neurone Disease had robbed John of almost everything which defined him as human, but the knowledge that he would be in control of his death was a source of great comfort to both of us.”Lesley Close, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Being incapable of helping a loved one to die when they are at the end of their life, suffering and asking for help is undignified and wrong, and I know this having witnessed it myself at close hand.”Zoe Wannamaker, Dignity in Dying Patron
“It is because we believe in the dignity and value of life that we hope for a good death. This is what Dignity in Dying hopes to permit and I passionately support its aims. To linger on against my will on a half-life is no life at all.”A.N Wilson, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I endorse the work of Dignity in Dying because I believe passionately that any individual should have the right to choose, as far as it is possible, the time and the conditions of their death. I think it's time we learned to be as good at dying as we are at living.”Sir Terry Pratchett, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I see it as almost inevitable, that society will become more understanding, and more sophisticated, about assisted dying. As with suicide, it is right to strive to find better options, but when the alternatives have run out it must surely be wrong for society to insist that people suffer.”Nick Ross, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I support Dignity in Dying because I care about suffering and want the law changed so that those who presently suffer terrible deaths will in future have the option to end their suffering through ending their lives at a time and in the manner of their choice.”Lord Joffe, Dignity in Dying Patron
“As a doctor for over 35 years, I became increasingly aware of the failure of even the best care to deal with the suffering of some patients. The present clinical, ethical, and legal fudge - and a law which is discredited in practice - is dangerous for patients and also for professionals.”Professor Raymond Tallis, Dignity in Dying Patron
“As a child there existed in my mind a nagging fear about this thing called death. As I have become older, I want to give an assurance to the people I love that the circumstances of their death will be 'good', to be celebrated, and their final hours will be reflective of life well lived.”Jo Brand, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My wife, Diane Pretty, had the terminal illness motor neurone disease and wanted to receive medical assistance to die with dignity. During the last weeks of her life, Diane was in considerable pain and distress. The very thing she'd fought through the courts to avoid.”Brian Pretty, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Knowing that most of us, it seems, want the freedom to choose when and how to end our lives so as to avoid, for ourselves and our families, the harrowing consequences of a messy, drawn-out and painful deaths, that choice must be enshrined in a framework of law.”Professor Eric Bolton CB, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My work as a cancer physician inevitably brought me into contact with dying people. I think that assisted dying is an important choice to be offered in the rare situations where doctors are unable to control unbearable symptoms.”Dr Lisa McDonald, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My mother, Dr Anne Turner, chose to have an assisted death in 2006 at Dignitas in Zurich. Once my mother had been accepted for an assisted death, she was able to enjoy her life for the remaining time she had, greatly reassured that she would be spared further suffering.”Sophie Pandit, Dignity in Dying Patron
“As someone who helped her son to die when he could no longer face the suffering caused by Huntington's disease, I understand fully the need to have a safe, regulated right to die system that takes the pressure off family. After all, who would let their loved ones die alone?”Heather Pratten, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I believe that the exercise of free will concerning the end of life, and the timing of the end of life, is an essential human freedom. I believe that while religious dogma may dictate or limit the choice of believers it should not be imposed on others.”Rabbi Dr Charles Middleburgh, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Over many years, I have become convinced of the need for a change in the law to protect people with terminal illness who have made the painful decision to seek help in dying. This is why, once I left government, I joined Dignity in Dying and will go on supporting their campaign until we succeed.”Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt MP, Dignity in Dying Patron
“My father, who was suffering from cancer and no longer wished to live, died as he chose: in peace and dignity, with my mother beside him. I passionately hope that, if I too were terminally ill, and was finding life unbearable, I could be allowed to die at a time of my choosing.”Rosemary Brown OBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“Having seen my father die, it became very clear to me that we as society need to grasp the nettle and deal with this contentious issue in a way that is humane and acceptable to the majority of right thinking people.”Matthew Wright, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I wish to be treated as a responsible adult and believe that people should be legally able to register their wish for an assistance with suicide, if needed. I support Dignity in Dying primarily to help change the law on assisted suicide.”Sir Michael Holroyd CBE, Dignity in Dying Patron
“I believe that decisions about the timing and manner of death belong to the individual as a human right. I believe it is wrong to withhold medical methods of terminating life painlessly and swiftly when an individual has a rational and clear-minded sustained wish to end his or her life.”Professor A C Grayling, Dignity in Dying Patron

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News / Press Releases

25 Jan 2010: Kay Gilderdale found not guilty of attempted murder Jan 25, 2010

A mother who gave her severely ill and bed-ridden daughter a morphine overdose to help her to die at her request was found not guilty of murder today. She had previously pleaded guilty to assisted suicide. Lynn was 31, and had been bed-ridden for seventeen years after contracting myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). She asked her mother to help her take a morphine overdose in order to end her suffering. Lynn Gilderdale had made several requests to die; she had an Advance Decision refusing life sustaining treatment and a do not resuscitate order in her medical notes.

Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying said:

"A not guilty verdict in this case was the right decision. Whilst we don't condone acting outside of the law, and it is important that these kinds of cases are investigated, the judge is now able to use his discretion when sentencing Kay Gilderdale. Given that she pleaded guilty to assisting in a suicide, she will be sentenced under the Suicide Act; therefore the judge is not forced to impose a mandatory sentence.

"As demonstrated here and in Frances Inglis' case last week, the existing law doesn't work in practice and is not in line with public opinion. Ultimately we need a full public consultation on whether the law should change, to regulate and legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people and to create a specific or partial defence of 'mercy killing' for these offences. The law needs to protect potentially vulnerable people by being tough on malicious or irresponsible behaviour, but it also needs to be flexible enough to show mercy when the motivation is clearly compassion.

"There is a clear ethical difference between assisted dying, assisted suicide, euthanasia and murder, yet the law makes little distinction between these acts. Assisted dying is assisting a terminally ill, mentally competent adult to shorten the dying process, at their request; assisted suicide is assisting the death of a chronically ill, suffering person if they ask for help; euthanasia is direct action to end a person's life to enable that person to have a good death; and murder is a malicious, self serving act which results in the death of another. While cases relating to all of these occurrences must be investigated, people who act compassionately to end the suffering of someone they love should not be subjected to the full force of the murder law, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

"The Law Commission reviewed murder law in 2006 and recommended that further review was needed in relation to cases of 'mercy killing'. This is yet to be implemented. Dignity in Dying calls for an urgent review into this area of the law and suggests that a separate law to cover cases such as these, or a partial defence of mercy killing may be appropriate."

Notes to editor:

About Dignity in Dying:

· Dignity in Dying campaigns for greater choice, control and access to services at the end of life. It advocates providing terminally ill adults with the option of an assisted death, within strict legal safeguards, and for universal access to high quality end-of-life care.

· Dignity in Dying has over 100,000 supporters and receives its funding entirely from donations from the public.

· Surveys consistently show that at least 80% of the UK population supports a change in the law on assisted dying.

ICM poll October 2008, commissioned by Dignity in Dying.

Approximately 61% of the population know that they have the right to refuse medical treatment in advance if they lose the ability to communicate.
Approximately 11% have an Advance Decision.

ICM poll September 2006, commissioned by Dignity in Dying.

Almost a fifth (19%) know of someone who would benefit from an Advance Decision or who would have died a better death had they had an Advance Decision
39% of people, and 42% of those over 65, did not realise that relatives have no automatic legal rights in this area.

Compassion in Dying

Compassion in Dying provides Advance Decisions free of charge at: www.compassionindying.org.uk

Media Contacts:

For all media enquiries, please contact Jo Cartwright on 020 7479 7737 / 07725433025 or at jo.cartwright@dignityindying.org.uk.

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