In her last moments, assisted dying campaigner Dawn Voice-Cooper told the Mirror of her wish for Brits to be allowed to die with dignity at home.
Minutes later, the 76-year-old passed away listening to her favourite song after releasing a fatal dose of barbiturates into her blood at a centre in Switzerland.
On the anniversary of her death today campaigners have issued an appeal for “Dawn’s last wish” - a Parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s assisted dying laws.
Dawn had hoped that, after reviewing all the evidence, the Government would develop safe laws to allow sick and dying Brits to end their lives at home.
Campaigner and friend Alex Pandolfo said: “One of the key things that Dawn wanted was what I call ‘Dawn’s last wish’. Her last wish was that her death would be used to help advance the call for an evidence-based parliamentary inquiry into assisted dying.”
The former mental health worker, of Sevenoaks, Kent, had faced a daily battle with incurable health issues. She had called her quality of life, “at times unbearable”.
Last October she flew to Basel to die on her own terms. It had taken her two years to get the green light from Lifecircle, whose medics reviewed her medical history. In Switzerland two doctors assessed her. On the morning of her death, Dawn had a glass of champagne, a final cigarette and said her goodbyes listening to Nick Drake’s Day is Done.
Opponents of assisted dying fear it could push the disabled and elderly into ending their lives out of fear of becoming a burden. But Dawn hoped that by sharing her journey she could show rigorous safeguards can stop abuse.
Trevor Moore, head of My Death, My Decision, said: “The time has come for Westminster to stop ducking the issue.”
