Assisted dying bill: 'I watched my wife die from MND; now I want the choice to end my life early'

• James Catmur from Huntingdon tells ITV Anglia reporter Rosie Dowsing why he is campaigning for the right to end his life early

A man with multiple sclerosis who plans to visit an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland if his pain becomes too much has called for people in the UK to have the same choice.

Since losing his wife Helen to motor neurone disease (MND) in 2016, James Catmur from Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire says he wants to have the choice of when to die - something his wife Helen didn't have.

After her death, Mr Catmur, a risk consultant, joined the clinic Dignitas in Switzerland, where assisted dying is legal.

Under English law, it is not possible to get medical help to die. Doctors found to be assisting a suicide can be jailed for up to 14 years, under the Suicide Act 1961.

Mr Catmur told ITV News Anglia his wife was too weak to make the journey.

He said: "My wife died of MND, which is a horrible way to die.

"She ended up locked two doors down in this house, in a bed. She couldn’t move anything; eventually by the end the only thing she could move was her eyes and one finger. She could just lift the finger and she would speak by touching into an iPad.

“She was miserable and she made it very clear she wanted to die."

Since then, Mr Catmur has been a paying member of Dignitas.

While multiple sclerosis is not a terminal illness, it involves painful symptoms and can lead to fatal complications.

He said: “Should it reach the stage where I feel miserable, and I cannot cope with life, I know I can go to Switzerland. I see it as an insurance policy."

He said his adult children understood his decision, even though he would have to travel alone by law and die without them at the clinic.

"They watched their mother have a miserable death," he said. "They understand I don’t want the same. So I think they’re happy, but not happy."

He added: “We should have the choice about when we die, how we die. I don’t want to die in Switzerland, I want to die here.”

In his wife's name, Mr Catmur joined the Dignity in Dying campaign. He wants to see the law against assisted dying change in this country.

A bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales has been formally introduced in the House of Commons.

Some charities oppose the bill, saying legalising assisted suicide could put pressure on the most vulnerable.

Among those calling for caution are the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who has warned the "dangerous approach" could be a "slippery slope", and actor Liz Carr, presenter of the BBC documentary titled Better off Dead?, who argues that greater safeguards are necessary.

The campaigner has also called for any change in law to be the subject of a Royal Commission – an advisory committee appointed by the government to look into a specific issue.

The debate and first vote on the bill are not expected to take place until the end of next month, but it will mark the first time the issue has been voted on in the Commons in almost a decade.

An Assisted Dying Bill, which would have allowed some terminally ill adults to ask for medical help to end their life, went before the Commons in 2015 and was rejected by MPs.

Mr Catmur would not be eligible for assisted dying if the bill was passed because his condition is not a terminal illness, but he says it is a step towards people having more choice about their death.

He said: “We have to do something which is available to people who want to use it, and those who don’t want to use it don’t have to use it.

"I think for those voting on it, it’s about giving us the freedom of choice around how we die. That’s very important to me.”

As a risk consultant by trade, Mr Catmur sees the money he pays to be a member of Dignitas as part of the risk management of his life - minimising the risk of pain for himself and those he will leave behind.

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