Two elderly cousins who lived together for 40 years have killed themselves because they feared being sent to separate nursing homes, it was revealed yesterday.
Frail Stuart Henderson, 86, and Phyllis McConachie, 89, paid around £6,500 each to die together at a Swiss clinic.
Mr Henderson, who was virtually blind, and Miss McConachie, who was almost deaf and had suffered several strokes, lived at a sheltered housing complex in Troon, Ayrshire.
After both suffered falls, they were convinced social services would intervene if their health deteriorated further.
Campaigners who helped them to contact the Swiss assisted dying group Eternal Spirit said they were completely interdependent and had threatened to jump from a nine-storey building together if they could not reach Switzerland.
Workers from the foundation helped them travel to an apartment owned by Eternal Spirit in Basel. There, they were assessed by two doctors who sanctioned their death.
After receiving lethal doses of medication, they kissed each other goodbye and died hand-in-hand on November 10 last year, according to Eternal Spirits president Dr Erika Preisig.
She said the pair, who had few surviving relatives, kept their plans secret: They were very, very afraid someone would find out and stop them.
‘Their biggest wish was that they should be allowed to die together and not to live apart. They told me they hoped the law would change in Britain to allow them to have an assisted voluntary death at home, but that they could not wait because they were so afraid they would be separated.
Mr Henderson had fallen recently and Im sure his hand was broken but he refused to see a doctor because of that fear. They were both very sure they wanted to die.
The cousins made contact with Eternal Spirit in July last year and submitted medical reports and personal letters explaining why they wanted to die.
Neither Mr Henderson, a retired mechanical engineer, nor former council secretary Miss McConachie had a terminal illness.
Their medical reports were examined by two Swiss doctors and the foundations ethical board before Dr Preisig met the cousins at their home in August to assess if either was being pressured into a suicide pact by the other.
She said: They were very, very ill and very old but both were very sure they wanted to end their lives together, after having lived together for so long. It was very difficult for them to make the journey to our apartment and it was distressing for them they found it cruel that they had to travel but once they were in Switzerland they were relaxed and full of joy.
In Scotland, the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill, introduced by the late Margo MacDonald is being scrutinised at Holyrood.
Since her death last year following a long battle with Parkinsons disease, the Bill has been championed by Green MSP Patrick Harvie.
If the proposed legislation became law, seriously ill people over the age of 16 would be able to request help from a GP to hasten their death.
Dr Peter Saunders, campaign director of Care Not Killing, called the cousins case a great tragedy.
This tragic case strongly underlines the need for comprehensive and affordable patient-centred care in which peoples social and spiritual needs and not just physical needs are provided for, he said.
Failure to provide this support, particularly if accompanied by a change in the law to allow assisted suicide, will have the effect of steering more vulnerable elderly people towards taking their lives.
Source Mail Onliine
