Politicians on the tiny island of Guernsey are set to vote on a measure to allow terminally-ill people to end their lives - which could pave the way for ill Brits travelling there to die
GUERNSEY could become home to the first suicide clinic in the British Isles.
Politicians on the tiny island are set to vote on a measure to allow terminally-ill people to end their lives - which could pave the way for ill Brits travelling there to die.
Top Guernsey politician Gavin St Pier told : “This is about giving people choice and a sense that they have some control themselves, rather than being frightened, out of control and in the hands of others.
"That for me is why it is such an important issue.
"I have personal experience of my father who died nine years ago. His death from cardiovascular disease was very distressing.
“It was not a comfortable death and it was also not the death that he would have chosen for himself had he had the choice.”
A survey for campaign group Dignity in Dying recently revealed 53 per cent of Brits would be willing to travel to Switzerland for an assisted death - where it is currently legal.
ASSISTED suicide and euthanasia are both illegal in the UK - with euthanasia carrying a maximum penalty of life in jail, and assisted suicide 14 years.
The only exception is "passive euthanasia", which is where treatment that might extend someone's life is withdrawn - such as a life machine being turned off.
The only alternatives for terminally ill patients in the UK are hospice care or refusing treatment, which mentally capable patients have the right to do.
As a result, some terminally ill people decide to travel abroad to die.
In Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal (but euthanasia is not), you do not have to be a Swiss citizen to use a clinic.
However, it is not cheap - assisted suicide non-profit Dignitas charges patients £3,380 for its services.
In 2008, film cameras followed retired university professor Craig Weart during his final emotional days in a Dignitas-owned apartment in Zurich, Switzerland.
The resulting documentary - Right To Die? - showed him passing away with Mary, his devoted wife of 37 years, at his side.
Moments before he dies, she asks him: "Can I give you a kiss?" Craig replies: "Of course" and Mary adds: "I love you."
Craig says: "I love you, sweetheart, so much." Mary then tells him: "Have a safe journey, I will see you some time."
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