A retired doctor who helped an 83-year-old man with dementia to die at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland has predicted that many more people who suffer from the illness will choose to end their life in the same way.
Michael Irwin, 82, said that, with the number of people succumbing to dementia growing rapidly, and dramatic improvements in early diagnosis but no cure in sight, more would opt for assisted suicide. He would do the same if he were in that situation, he said.
The British man who died at the Zurich clinic last month contacted Dr Irwin in January to help him to find a psychiatrist who would verify that he was of sound mind. The man’s wife made the travel arrangements and accompanied her husband to the clinic.
The patient, who has not been named, is thought to be the first Briton to end his life at Dignitas because of dementia alone.
Dementia patients have a relatively short period from the time of diagnosis to taking the decision to go to Dignitas, as Swiss doctors require written proof from an expert that they have mental competence to decide to end their life.
Dr Irwin, who was struck off the medical register in 2005 for obtaining medication to help a friend to die, has been to Dignitas four times to help others to end their lives, and now campaigns for a change in the law.
It is illegal in Britain to help someone to end their life, and courts can impose a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. But as many as 200 British citizens have travelled to Dignitas, and no relative or professional who has helped them to end their life has faced prosecution.
Police have investigated many of the cases but guidelines say if the person acted out of “wholly compassionate” reasons, it is not in the public interest to prosecute.
Dr Irwin said he charged no fee for his help and did it only to “help a fellow human being” — but campaigners against assisted suicide say the case is alarming.
Peter Saunders, director of the Care Not Killing Alliance, said it would lead to pressure being felt by people with dementia to end their lives so they would not be a strain on their families.
“Vulnerable people would feel constrained to end their lives for fear of being a burden upon loved ones, and this pressure would be particularly intensely felt at this time of economic recession,” he said. “Given the number of people and organisations who stand to gain financially from the deaths of elderly people it would be a recipe for personal and institutional elder abuse.”
The Alzheimer’s Society, the leading charity for people with dementia, said it hoped to drive up standards of dementia care. “There are 800,000 people living with dementia. No one with the condition should have to accept a poor quality of life. Instead, we need to be driving up standards to ensure everyone can enjoy a good quality of life today. And when the time comes, people with dementia deserve a dignified death and good quality end-of-life care, no less than everyone else,” a spokeswoman said.
A Bill being debated in the Lords seeks to change the law so that doctors can prescribe lethal drugs to people who have less than a year to live.
The Dignitas Association offers anyone who has a serious medical condition an assisted suicide, usually by swallowing a powerful sedative. It costs about £3,200.
