Dignitas British membership at all-time high with 80% increase in last decade

British membership of Switzerland assisted dying organisation Dignitas is at an all-time high with an 80% increase in the last decade to 1,528 current members. Dignitas yesterday (Wednesday 1st March 2023) released its annual figures showing membership numbers and the numbers of assisted deaths at its assisted dying organisation in Switzerland. British membership has more than doubled since 2009 (then 724) and rose by 6.6% in 2022 alone.

Thirty three Brits had an assisted death at Dignitas in 2022, a 44% increase from 2021. This is the highest number since the pandemic began, and the overall fifth highest number of annual British deaths at Dignitas since the first British person was assisted to die there in 2002. Before the pandemic, around 50 Brits a year – approximately one a week – on average died with assistance in Switzerland at Dignitas, which is the only provider to publicly release statistics, and other facilities. During the pandemic, when travel restrictions were in place, the number of British assisted deaths at Dignitas halved between 2019 and 2020.

Dignitas cost and other obstacles

Assisted dying is legal in Switzerland for foreign nationals providing they meet strict eligibility criteria. Among several obstacles for Brits accessing this option is the cost of Dignitas (on average £10,000) and the risk of prosecution for anyone assisting or accompanying a loved one, which under the Suicide Act 1961 is a crime with a maximum sentence of 14 years in England and Wales.

Mick Murray, from Derbyshire, accompanied his friend Ann to Dignitas in 2014 when she was dying of progressive supra nuclear palsy (PSP). A year later, Mick accompanied his best friend and Ann’s husband Bob to Switzerland when he was dying of mesothelioma, an illness he developed after exposure to asbestos during his work as a carpenter’s apprentice. Mick said:

“Ann and Bob were both determined to take control over their deaths. Ann struggled to eat and stand and she knew her condition was terminal, so she wanted to avoid a painful death. When Bob came towards the end of his life he was in terrible pain, despite receiving good care. He would sit on his sofa rocking back and forth, saying his chest was on fire. Having witnessed his wife suffering and seeing the peaceful death she was able to have, he knew he wanted the same for himself when the time came.

“In some ways they were fortunate to be able to access this choice but they shouldn’t have had to travel hundreds of miles away from home or spend thousands of pounds to die on their own terms. Most people are currently priced-out of assisted dying, left instead to face untold suffering or make the choice to take matters into their own hands.

“These Dignitas figures should be a wake-up call for Parliament. Ann and Bob were just two of the dozens of people making this journey every year. How much longer can we leave it to another country to fix the mess of our broken law? The Government must give time for this crucial debate.”

Suzie Jee, a retired nurse, has terminal bone cancer and wants the choice of an assisted death. When Suzie was in her 20s, her father George took his own life while dying of oesophageal cancer. Suzie said:

“My dad did not have the choice of an assisted death when he was dying in agony of cancer. He wanted to end his suffering so he took himself off in his car and didn’t come back, dying alone. I had to identify his body, which absolutely devastated me.

“I am still very angry that he had to die that way, and my own diagnosis has made me determined to have choice in how I die. Currently I am left with few options: I could wait for nature to take its course and suffer at the end of life as so many do or I could take matters in my own hands, but I do not want to die as my dad did. Switzerland is expensive and may not be an option for me.

“The Government must take note of these figures, but also remember the hundreds of people like my dad who take their own lives every year. Having the choice of an assisted death would allow me to live better in the present, knowing there are more options available to me than suicide or suffering.”

Assisted dying law in the UK

Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying, said:

“It’s immoral that we are outsourcing compassion to Switzerland for the few that can afford it.  The increase in Dignitas’ latest figures is concrete evidence that Britons are desperate for choice and control over their deaths. Assisted dying is an option for millions across the world, but still we do not have a British law for British people. A peaceful, dignified death on one’s own terms should not be behind a paywall.

“The parliaments of Jersey, the Isle of Man, Scotland, Ireland and France are recognising that doing nothing is simply not an option. Westminster is finally getting the message with the launch of the Health Select Committee’s assisted dying inquiry, but it must take note of these figures and the stories behind them. Each one is evidence that the ban on assisted dying is failing British families.”

Recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has indicated that people with serious and potentially terminal illnesses are more than twice as likely to take their own lives than those without, with Dignity in Dying research estimating that up to 650 terminally ill people every year take their own lives. This is in addition to the 6,400 people a year who would die in pain even with universal access to hospice care (as estimated by the Office of Health Economics).

84% of the British public support a change in the law to allow assisted dying as a choice for terminally ill people. Majority support for reform is consistent across the country, age, gender, socioeconomic background, political leaning, among those with and without religious views and those with and without disabilities.

Over 200 million people around the world have access to some form of assisted dying law, including in 11 states in the US, all Australian states and the whole of New Zealand, where the choice is available to terminally ill, mentally competent adults subject to strict safeguards. Assisted dying bills are currently progressing in the Scotland, Jersey and the Isle of Man Parliaments. President Emmanuel Macron has announced a national debate in France with a view to legalising assisted dying by the end of 2023, and a special Dáil committee will examine the topic in Ireland later this year.

*ENDS*

For further information and interview requests with case studies and Dignity in Dying spokespeople, please contact Molly Pike, Media and Campaigns Officer at Dignity in Dying, on 07929 731181 or email: molly.pike@dignityindying.org.uk.