Respected broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said the UK’s law against assisted death is ‘increasingly unbearable’.
In the wake of his brother’s death from motor neurone disease, Mr Dimbleby said: ‘The law should be changed.’
His younger brother Nicholas, a celebrated sculptor, died aged 77 at home earlier this month after a long battle with MND.
Mr Dimbleby told The Guardian that the current rules which make assisted dying a criminal offence ‘are anachronistically cruel as capital punishment’.
Mr Dimbleby, a friend of King Charles, added: ‘The law should be changed so that individuals like my brother, protected by crucial legal safeguards, would have the right to die at home at a moment of their choice.’
Respected broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has said the UK’s law against medically assisted death is ‘increasingly unbearable’ in the wake of his brother’s death
Mr Dimbleby’s brother, Nicholas, a celebrated sculptor, died at home earlier this month at the age of 77 Here is pictured with his sculpture “A bronze boy on a pedestal”
Figures released earlier this year show as of the end of December 2022, there were 1,528 members of Dignitas from Great Britain, according to figures from the not-for-profit organisation, which assists dying patients with a ‘self-determined end of life’. This has risen from 821 in 2012. Some 33 people from the UK had an assisted death at Dignitas in 2022 – up on 23 people the year before
On his brother he said: ‘He was a wonderful, strong person, mentally as well as physically, and he felt this erosion of life very deeply.
‘He showed immense courage but as the disease progressed he endured terrifying choking fits though, mercifully, his final hours were peaceful.’
Mr Dimbleby added that while he respected those who had anxieties about assisted dying for moral or religious reasons, politicians had been ‘misled’ by those who said it was always possible to have a pain-free death and that ‘evil people’ would seek to persuade the terminally ill opt for an assisted death for their own gain.
Before he died, Nicholas himself told Jonathan in a BBC Radio 4 documentary: ‘I shall decide when I stop… I will say I shan’t dwindle to nothing in a miserable way and I shall take control of how I end. But quite when that happens I don’t know. It’s a problem.’
He added ‘no one in the business helping me wants to talk about this – Switzerland or wherever’.
What is the current law on assisted dying in the UK?
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland helping someone to take their own life is punishable with up to 14 years in prison.
While no specific law exists in Scotland helping someone end their own life could lead to to prosecution for culpable homicide.
This, in theory, includes helping someone go through assisted dying overseas.
Charities say the current system leaves terminally ill Brits with little choice but to pay thousands to go overseas for their death.
They also warned that those who can’t afford to travel are deciding to take their lives at home, sometimes in pain, compared to a medically assisted death.
UK charities currently estimated that one Brit travels overseas for assisted dying every eight days.
There are currently proposals to change the law in some parts of the UK.
Last September in Scotland, Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur lodged the final proposal to introduce a Member’s Bill which would legalise assisted dying for people who are terminally ill, though no date has been given yet for when this might be considered.
A public consultation on a Private Member’s Bill on assisted dying closed on the Isle of Man at the end of January.
A consultation on assisted dying proposals also took place in Jersey between October 2022 and January and publication of a consultation feedback report is expected in April.
However, on advice from experts Nicholas decided as he did not face a painful death, he would stay, and die, at home.
Nicholas, whose works include public statues of the footballer Jimmy Hill and the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was diagnosed with MND last year.
The rare and incurable condition affects the brain and nerves, robbing sufferers of their ability to move, to eat and eventually breathe.
Mr Dimbleby has direct experience for caring for the terminally ill.
In 2003 he left his wife of 35 years to spend a few final weeks with his dying lover.
His affair with opera singer Susan Chilcott was brief. They had only been seeing each other for a few days before she discovered a lump on her breast that would turn out to be breast cancer.
Mr Dimbleby isn’t the first public figure to advocate for change.
At the end of last year broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, announced she is considering an assisted death in Switzerland after being diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer.
The public also appear to support change.
A poll in January found 75 per cent of Brits would support assisted dying being made legal for terminally ill adults of sound mind after approval by two doctors. Only 13 per cent were opposed.
As public attitudes have shifted so have politicians. Labour leader Keir Starmer has said there are grounds for changing the law, and education secretary Gillian Keegan has also said the issue needs to be debated.
Scotland is already proposing its own legalisation for assisted dying that is expected to be debated in Holyrood next year.
Mr Dimbleby’s comments come as MPs from the health and social care select committee are expected to publish the results of 14-month inquiry into assisted dying tomorrow.
MPs have heard impassioned pleas from both sides of the debate.
Critics say assisted dying can be a form of elder abuse and individuals could pressure the terminally ill to access their funds or simply be rid of the burden of caring for them.
Many religious groups also oppose any change, claiming it would undermine the value society places on human life.
They have also pointed to legislation in Canada, where people can with an incurable medical condition can apply to die even if the disease isn’t terminal, as an example of how far such laws can go.
The country’s law around medically assisted dying is one of the most liberal in the world.
Supporters, however have warned that terminally ill are having to choose between ‘suicide, Switzerland or suffering’ and that future generations would be ‘appalled’ by current legislation.
Mr Dimbleby, a friend of King Charles, said: ‘The law should be changed so that individuals like my brother, protected by crucial legal safeguards, would have the right to die at home at a moment of their choice.’ The pair pictured here in 1994
Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer last year, and has since revealed she has joined the assisted-dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland
UK charities estimate that one Brit travels overseas for assisted dying every eight days.
They have repeatedly warned that Brits are voting with their feet, with those able to afford to do so are going overseas to countries where assisted dying is legal.
But this leaves many with no choice but to consider taking their own life.
This, they add, can lead to people experiencing pain and suffering as they die, compared to a painless medically assisted death.
Medically assisted dying, or euthanasia, is illegal in the UK, and can be prosecuted as manslaughter or murder, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Helping someone take their own life, called assisted suicide, is also an offence and punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Over the past 13 years, there have been 200 cases of assisted dying or assisted suicide referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by the police, with four successful prosecutions.
Figures released last year by Dignitas – the not-for-profit organisation assisting patients with a ‘self-determined end of life’ – revealed there were 1,528 members from Great Britain at the end of 2022.
This has risen from 821 in 2012.
Some 33 people from the UK had an assisted death at Dignitas in 2022 – up on 23 people the year before.
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