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“As far back as I can remember, I have supported the idea that there should be choice at the end of life,” says Dame Joan Ruddock. At 80 years old, the former Labour MP is still as sharp as ever and possesses the same campaigning instincts that guided her through a career in politics spanning four decades.
Labour leader’s comments come amid growing calls for reform
She would have asked to be flown off to Switzerland, and we’d have missed a special moment at the end of her life
My late mother would repeatedly tell me that if she ever became a burden, I should put her out of her misery. A chronic alcoholic, she eventually drank herself senseless and I found myself looking for adult care for her when she was only in her early 50s.
In a submission to MPs, she said her husband had been suffering from end-stage bowel cancer in 2017 but she struggled to get him pain-relieving medication in the hours before he died.