A man who has decided he wants to end his life after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, aged 84, says he wants a change I the law as his only option for an assisted death would cost him £10,000.
Dad-of-three Tim Wardle says he would go to a clinic such as Dignitas in Switzerland if he could. He said: “I would go if I could afford it. Many, many people can’t afford that.
“How many of us have that money we don’t need or perhaps want to leave to our children or wife?” The retired architect was told last year that cancer on his kidneys was inoperable, having faced cancers in his bladder, prostate and lungs, reports The Mirror.
“I’d already decided I didn’t want any more intrusive procedures,” said Tim, who lost his grandfather, mother and two sisters to cancer.
Remembering his sister, who died in Canada, Tim said: “She was a lovely woman but she ended up looking like someone who had come out of one of the Nazi concentration camps. She was in obvious pain.
“She was a very private person and hated the loss of dignity. Canada has subsequently made laws for assisted dying, but they came too late for her.”
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He added: “The things I fear are a loss of dignity. And obviously there’s a pain factor. Also I would not want my wife and my son to see me like my sister.”
Tim believes assisted dying should be available to people in Britain. He said: “We’re Victorian in our attitude to death. We treat our animals better than we do people. If you find a pet to be suffering intolerably, you are considered doing the right thing if you have them put down.
“If we can do that for our animals who can’t express a view, why can’t we do that for humans who can.”
