A cancer sufferer left a message for politicians in the wake of her death at Dignitas, pleading for a change to the UK’s current ‘cruel law’ criminalising assisted dying.
Paola Marra died aged 53 at the controversial Swiss clinic yesterday, after saying she felt she had no choice but to travel there having fought breast and bowel cancer.
The former music industry and charity sector worker teamed up with renowned photographer Rankin beforehand to speak out about assisted dying.
In a film released today, Ms Marra – who lived in East Finchley, North London – said: ‘When you watch this, I will be dead. I’m choosing to seek assisted dying because I refuse to let a terminal illness dictate the terms of my existence.
‘The pain and suffering can become unbearable. It’s a slow erosion of dignity, the loss of independence, the stripping away of everything that makes life worth living.
Paola Marra teamed up with renowned photographer Rankin to speak out about assisted dying
Paola Marra posed for a variety of portrait shots with photographer Rankin before her death
Paola Marra said she felt she had no choice but to travel to the Dignitas site in Switzerland
Paola Marra is pictured as a girl. She was Canadian but lived in London for more than 30 years
‘Assisted dying is not about giving up. In fact, it’s about reclaiming control. It’s not about death. It’s about dignity.
‘It’s about giving people the right to end their suffering on their own terms, with compassion and respect.
‘So as you watch this, I am dead. But you watching this could help change the laws around assisted dying.’
In an accompanying open letter to party leaders at Westminster, Ms Marra said that, due to the current law, she had to travel to Dignitas alone because she did not want her loved ones ‘to be questioned by the police or get into trouble’.
The Canadian, who had lived in London for more than 30 years, wrote: ‘I resent that I don’t have a choice. I think it’s unfair and cruel.
‘And for so many dying people who can’t afford to pay an average of £15,000 to travel to Dignitas, this cruel law will force them to endure a painful death, or drive them to take their own lives.’
Rankin said he met Ms Marra on a project over Christmas and had been ‘floored’ by her story.
He said: ‘I felt like I wanted to show somebody who wasn’t suicidal. She wasn’t depressed, she wasn’t unhappy, she wasn’t somebody that didn’t love her life.
‘She really loved her life and she really wanted her life to mean something. There is a wider purpose to (the film) The Last Request.
One of the family photographs of Paola Marra in the video released today after her death
Paola Marra says in the emotional video released today: ‘When you watch this, I will be dead’
In a film released today, Paola Marra used a series of family photographs to illustrate her life
Paola Marra was a 53-year-old former music industry and charity sector worker
Paola Marra died at the Swiss clinic yesterday, having fought breast and bowel cancer
‘In doing these photos and this film we wanted to highlight the need to change the legislation around end-of-life care.’
Earlier this month Sir Keir Starmer said he is ‘committed’ to allowing a vote on legalising assisted dying should Labour win the general election.
The party leader made the pledge to campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, whose revelation that she had joined Dignitas as she lives with stage four cancer has put the subject under the spotlight in recent months.
But Dame Esther’s daughter Rebecca Wilcox said Sir Keir’s commitment would be too late for ‘thousands of people who are suffering today’ and has urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ‘have a vote now’.
Number 10 has previously said it would be up to Parliament whether or not to again debate legalising assisted dying.
In February, a report by MPs warned that the Government must consider what to do if the law is changed in part of the UK or in the Isle of Man or Jersey.
The Health and Social Care Committee said legalisation in at least one jurisdiction was looking ‘increasingly likely’ and suggested the Government must be ‘actively involved’ in discussions about how to approach differences in the law.
Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Paola Marra stands outside the London Underground station in East Finchley, where she lived
Paola Marra spoke of her pain as the ‘stripping away of everything that makes life worth living’
The Dignitas assisted dying clinic is located in Pfaffikon, near Zurich in Switzerland (file image)
A file photograph of a bed in the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Pfaffikon, Switzerland
A waiting room in the Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Pfaffikon, Switzerland (file picture)
In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to murder or other charges.
A Bill put forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur to make assisted dying legal in Scotland is expected to come before Holyrood in the coming weeks.
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, told MailOnline today: ‘Paola’s final plea comes at a pivotal time for the campaign for assisted dying in the UK.
‘Change is increasingly likely in parts of the British Isles, with soaring levels of public support for a better, safer, kinder law for dying people. Throughout the country, the vast majority of people are crying out for an end to a law that is unsafe, unfair and more than six decades out of date – no matter who they are, where they live, or who they vote for.
‘Like so many before her who have devoted their final months to fighting for this change, Paola knew it would not come in time for her.
‘But in shedding light on the devastating impact of the status quo, she helps bring us closer than ever to a law that gives choice, compassion and protection to terminally ill people; a law that means no one has to spend thousands of pounds travelling to another country, alone, to die.
‘Assisted dying is a movement whose time has come for the UK. Please sign Paola’s open letter and join us in urgently calling for a Parliamentary debate on assisted dying.’
The organisation also cited its recent polling which it said showed there is now support for law change in every single constituency across Britain.
