'Harmful status quo meant my Mum died alone'

A Bristol MP who has spoken out in support of the assisted dying bill said the current "harmful status quo" led to her mother dying alone.

Claire Hazelgrove, the Labour MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, spoke about the experience publicly for the first time on Friday as the bill returned to the Commons.

She said her mother Ruth "chose to bring her late-stage terminal illness to an end on her terms at home, with dignity" last year at the age of 61.

MPs have voted against the latest version of the bill, with 270 votes for and 286 votes against.

Hazelgrove said that "not all pain can be palliated".

She said the current law meant that her mother's family were unable to say goodbye to her.

Ruth Hazelgrove was diagnosed with polycythaemia vera, a rare blood cancer, at the age of 32.

In early 2024, her condition took a "significant turn", Hazelgrove said.

"Mum's pain was excruciating," she said.

"She had good access to palliative care but what we learned, the hardest of ways, is that not all pain can be palliated.

"I will never forget seeing her writhing and screaming in pain at points for weeks.

"Mum was clear that she didn't want a painful or undignified death - she wanted peace."

MPs voted against the bill in the House of Commons on Friday.

An identical bill was supported by MPs last year but it ran out of time and failed to clear all its stages in the House of Lords.

The bill would have allowed terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to apply for help to end their own lives.

Reacting to the outcome of the vote, Hazelgrove said:"I respect different views and I'm grateful to every fellow resident who has been in touch to share their views and experiences.

"I'm glad that I did what I could to speak up for my Mum and others with terminal illnesses who want to have choice over their life and their death."

Hazelgrove told MPs that in her final note to her family, her mother wrote that she wished that the assisted dying bill had been passed during her lifetime.

"For us, it will always be a tremendous personal sadness that the current law meant that she couldn't tell us her plans, and that we couldn't say goodbye to her," she said.

"But more importantly than that, it meant that she couldn't say goodbye at the end of her life - or be surrounded by her loved ones - which is what she would have wanted for her death.

"Instead, the harmful status quo meant that Mum died alone, with photos of us around her."

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