Widow of First Briton to Use Dignitas Clinic Welcomes Assisted Dying Vote

Win Crew, a Liverpool resident and the widow of the first British individual to end their life at Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic, expressed feeling “absolutely wonderful” following the parliamentary vote supporting a bill to legalize assisted dying. Her comments came after the Assisted Dying Bill successfully passed in the House of Commons with a cross-party majority of 55 votes, tallying 330 in favour and 275 against. In 2003, Mrs. Crew accompanied her husband, Reginald, to Zurich. Reginald had endured motor neurone disease (MND) for four years. At his bedside, Mrs. Crew, who is now 92, made a commitment to advocate for a legal amendment, stating that she “never regretted the decision, because it’s what Reg wanted.” Responding to the vote, which initiates a period of several months for the bill’s examination before potential enactment, Mrs. Crew remarked: “I feel absolutely wonderful, honestly.” She added, “I can’t tell you how glad I feel, because it’s been such a long journey; more than 21 years since Reg died.” She recounted her campaigning efforts alongside her daughter, Jan, who has also since experienced the loss of her husband to a neurological condition. “My daughter and I were going down to London to the House of Lords virtually every weekend,” she stated. “It’s alright for people who’ve never known someone seriously ill saying ‘Oh, I don’t know about that’, but ask those who’ve had family or close friends with neurological disease. They know they’re going to die anyway, and my husband suffered for four years before we went to Switzerland.” Mr. Crew learned about the service provided by Dignitas, an organization that assists terminally ill individuals in ending their lives, after watching a television report about a woman intending to travel to the clinic. He subsequently used a handsfree phone to contact the company and inquire about available dates for a visit. “The moment he knew there was the opportunity to go he wanted to,” she recalled. “My life was hell at the time, and when I was told about potentially going to prison I just said that would be a holiday camp compared to this. For months Reg couldn’t go to bed. He would sit in his chair and say he was breathing but not living.” Mr. Crew, who passed away at 74 years old, reportedly informed nurses, “I want to die today,” prior to consuming water containing barbiturates, overseen by Dignitas staff. Ms. Crew further stated: “We never regretted what we did because that’s what Reg wanted to do.” The Terminally Ill (End of Life) Bill still faces numerous parliamentary obstacles before it can be enacted, requiring completion of five stages by Members of Parliament and an additional five by peers. Should it successfully complete this legislative journey, the law might be altered to permit certain terminally-ill adults, with a life expectancy of six months or less, to request assistance in ending their lives. Kim Leadbeater, the Member of Parliament sponsoring the bill, informed the Commons that a period of up to two years would precede the implementation of any new legislation, emphasizing that “it is more important to get this right than to do it quickly.”