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| Dignitas death of British father Jeffrey Spector prompts renewed debate on assisted suicide | Dignitas death of British father Jeffrey Spector prompts renewed debate on assisted suicide |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| A British businessman has been allowed to kill himself at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland despite not suffering from a terminal illness. | A British businessman has been allowed to kill himself at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland despite not suffering from a terminal illness. |
| Jeffrey Spector, 54, had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumour at the base of his spinal column, but reportedly admitted in a video produced by Dignitas that he was “jumping the gun”. | Jeffrey Spector, 54, had been diagnosed with an inoperable tumour at the base of his spinal column, but reportedly admitted in a video produced by Dignitas that he was “jumping the gun”. |
| Speaking of his fear that the cancer could see him paralysed from the neck down, he said his family disagreed with his decision but “accept that I have my own opinion”. | Speaking of his fear that the cancer could see him paralysed from the neck down, he said his family disagreed with his decision but “accept that I have my own opinion”. |
| “I am a proud person, independent and self-motivated… I believe in my human right to dignity”, he said. | “I am a proud person, independent and self-motivated… I believe in my human right to dignity”, he said. |
| Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK, although a bill to change the law in the case of patients with less than six months to live is expected to be re-introduced to the new Parliament by Labour peer Lord Falconer. | Assisted suicide is currently illegal in the UK, although a bill to change the law in the case of patients with less than six months to live is expected to be re-introduced to the new Parliament by Labour peer Lord Falconer. |
| Yet while Mr Spector described his condition as going “downhill”, he would not have qualified for assisted suicide in Britain even under the proposed conditions sought by campaigners. | Yet while Mr Spector described his condition as going “downhill”, he would not have qualified for assisted suicide in Britain even under the proposed conditions sought by campaigners. |
| One in five Dignitas users are reportedly British, and Mr Spector’s death is likely to reignite a debate on the issue which was recently part of a high-profile campaign by the late Sir Terry Pratchett. | One in five Dignitas users are reportedly British, and Mr Spector’s death is likely to reignite a debate on the issue which was recently part of a high-profile campaign by the late Sir Terry Pratchett. |
| A spokesperson for the campaign group Dignity in Dying said: “No one should be forced to travel abroad to have the death that they want, yet sadly one Briton a fortnight is doing so in the absence of an assisted dying law in the UK. | |
| “We know that people are doing so at a time earlier than they would have if assisted dying was a legal option in this country, due to the arduous task of traveling abroad in ill health. It cannot be right that we force people to suffer against their wishes, or to take drastic and desperate measures behind closed doors.” | |
| But Dr Peter Saunders, a director at the campaign group Care Not Killing, told the Telegraph that Mr Spector’s case “illustrates the dangers of legalising assisted suicide or euthanasia in Britain”. | |
| He said: “The vast majority of people with cancer or quadriplegia (which was a risk but not a present reality for this man) actually do not wish to kill themselves but rather want support and care to go on living as comfortably as possible for as long as possible.” | He said: “The vast majority of people with cancer or quadriplegia (which was a risk but not a present reality for this man) actually do not wish to kill themselves but rather want support and care to go on living as comfortably as possible for as long as possible.” |