Vote against assisted dying 'cruel and inhumane'

A woman living with terminal cancer has called the decision not to legalise assisted dying "unfair, cruel and inhumane".

Nadine Thomas, from Dursley in Gloucestershire, hoped the vote, which went before MPs in Parliament last week, would enable her to choose what to do as her bone cancer progresses and treatment stops working.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would have allowed terminally ill people in England and Wales to legally end their own lives. The bill stipulated that any approval would be subject to strict safeguards, but opponents argued they were insufficient.

MPs voted 286 to 270 against it on Friday. It now cannot be reconsidered until at least the next parliament.

Nadine Thomas has campaigned in favour of the bill for the last two years so she and other terminally ill people could be "given the same consideration and dignity" as animals at the end of their lives.

"We're not worried about dying, we know we're going to die. It's how we die - we want to do it with dignity on our own terms - and for me now the chances of that happening are pretty slim," she said.

"We are expected to suffer to our very last dying breath which is unfair, it's cruel, it's inhumane."

Jenny Carruthers, from Bath in Somerset, said the result of the vote was "absolutely crushing".

She previously cared for her partner, who died of cancer in 2013.

Now living with terminal bone cancer herself, Carruthers said she wanted to have the choice to end her life at home on her terms and would continue to campaign for change.

"It's very tiring, physically and emotionally over the whole year and listening to the campaign and constantly being blocked by something that feels very unjust is a hard thing to carry," she said.

"The effect of the illnesses on our bodies just means that its harder, it's physically harder to stand there, it's physically harder to get there and to summon the courage."

The bill was originally voted for by MPs 17 months ago, but it was back in parliament this year after it stalled in the House of Lords.

MPs were given a free vote which meant they did not have to follow party lines.

This time 87 MPs did not vote - including 56 from Labour.

Gideon Amos, the Liberal Democrat MP for Taunton and Wellington, was among those who voted against assisted dying because he believed it would have impacted the freedoms of disabled and vulnerable people.

"I was fundamentally concerned that if people were to be offered assisted dying without the option of proper mental health care or palliative care then that would not be a real choice," he said.

Amos added that he feared dying people would take the option to end their lives "because they feel a burden".

Instead, he said he would like to see more support for hospice and palliative care.

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