An OAP has told how she is planning to travel 12,000 miles to Australia to avoid an agonising death from terminal cancer.
Jackie Roberts, 72, watched her own parents suffer protracted and painful deaths from the illness. She has now been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer – which claimed the life of her mum, Mabel – and is determined not to spend her final months dying slowly and painfully in a hospital.
But strict laws on assisted dying in Scotland mean she is now planning to travel to the other side of the world to end her life. Jackie has discussed going to live with son Colin in Sydney, Australia, where assisted dying was legalised in May.
She said: “If push came to shove, I would consider going to Australia to use their assisted dying law. It’s good to know it’s there, where my son is. But why can’t I have that choice at home in Scotland?”
The death of Mabel left a lingering trauma for Jackie. And the former tax worker is now being treated at Edinburgh’s Western Hospital, where dad Bill died of prostate cancer.
She said: “He was in so much pain. I had to say to the staff – if it was your dad would you let him die like that? Then they increased his morphine. But I’m not criticising health professionals at all.
“I can’t say enough about my healthcare team at the Western who go above and beyond for me and in whom I have great confidence. They are better than the best. The care I’ve had and am still getting is excellent.”
Jackie, from Edinburgh, was one of 14,000 people to respond to a public consultation on MSP Liam McArthur’s members’ Bill on assisted dying at Holyrood – a record response.
Almost 80 per cent of respondents supported it. The Bill’s final proposal is being lodged at Holyrood today and could become law next year. Jackie’s mum tried to take her own life on two occasions, due to the pain caused by her cancer.
Jackie’s cancer was diagnosed more than 25 years ago but she was in remission from 1996. The cancer returned in June 2021 and she was given a terminal diagnosis just a couple of months later.
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Jackie said: “I support Liam McArthur’s proposals and responded to the consultation. I can’t see why we don’t have it.
“I hope MSPs will listen to those of us who have seen family, friends, loved ones suffering in terrible circumstances. I am fully behind this Bill. I dream of it becoming law.”
McArthur thanked Jackie for having the courage to tell her story.
He said: “Jackie should have more choice available here in Scotland – she shouldn’t have to be considering travelling to another country to make sure her death when it comes is peaceful and free of pain.”
Ally Thomson, director of Dignity in Dying Scotland, added: “The current blanket ban on assisted dying creates heartache and injustice for so many families like Jackie’s. An injustice that can now be put right.”
His Bill – “Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland)” – is presented at Holyrood today. It needs the written support of at least 18 MSPs from two parties to proceed.
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