“A good death is an extraordinary experience”
Fourteen years ago, Linda Deverell’s partner died in Belgium with medical assistance. The experience, she says, changed her life.
“My partner had an assisted death in Belgium 14 years ago, and when that happened, I was unaware that of what the consequences were could have been. I could have been jailed,” she said.
“We were in the EU – I was a EU citizen, he was Danish. So we couldn’t go to Dignitas because he couldn’t self administer. Back then, you had to be able to drink the medication yourself, and he couldn’t. So we came back to Belgium, and he had an extraordinary death, which I was really privileged to be part of.”
She contrasts that with her mother’s final days.
“I had experienced my mother’s death a few years before, and she had a horrendous death,” she explained.
“Her dying words were ‘I feel sick’, she was vomiting up her own faeces, and no one could do anything. It was horrendous. So I’ve seen both sides.”
When Linda heard a States Member say they had “never seen a bad death”, she bristled.
“There are terrible deaths,” she said. “After my partner’s death, I got involved in campaigning because I just thought it was a basic human right.”
She believes that much of the opposition to assisted dying is rooted in fear and misunderstanding around death.
“There is so much misunderstanding and ignorance still around death,” explained Linda.
“There’s fear of dying and people don’t want to deal with their mortality. Many people have not experienced death. We’re kept away from it.
“The truth is that a good death is an extraordinary experience. It’s like a birth. It is a really wonderful thing to experience.”
What of families who oppose assisted dying for their loved ones?
“It’s not their choice. It’s not their choice, and it’s as simple as that,” said Linda.
“People are very different when they know they’re dying. They want to talk about their death. They want to know, they want that clarity. There’s like a switch that goes, and they know that this is it – they can’t leave it till tomorrow.
“It’s really interesting that people have changed their minds because they’ve had personal experience over the years. They’ve gone from being against assisted dying to being for it because of there personal experience – and we should be listening to those people.”
Linda’s beliefs are firmly rooted in the importance of autonomy.
“This idea that, once you’ve said ‘I’m going to have an assisted death’, somebody’s going to suddenly come along and say ‘here we go, here’s the injection’ is misguided,” she explained.
“The reality is there’s choice all the way through. Many people will just have comfort from knowing it’s there.”
And she is particularly scathing about the current political inertia in Westminster.
“We’ve got seven lords who are holding it up, who have basically been filibustering the whole thing. I think it’s shocking and it’s really sad,” she said.
“That’s their belief, and that’s fine, but to stop everyone else is not their choice. It is about choice at the end of the day, and no one’s forcing this on anyone.”
One of the arguments that has come to the fore in the debate surrounding whether assisted dying should be legalised in England and Wales is the “slippery slope” theory – that even if the legislation contains watertight qualifying criteria and safeguards, the law will inevitably be expanded in time and the restrictions loosened.
But Linda said that would not be the case.
“We went to Belgium where there is a really wide law, but that is not this law. And that would never be this law,” she said.
When people talk about a slippery slope, it doesn’t happen. Like everywhere, when there’s a change in the law, it has to go through a process – it has to be voted on.”
Her conclusion was simple.
“This is a really historic day, and it’s an extraordinary thing. I think the people of Jersey should be really proud today,” she added.
“This is a really, really wonderful day for people who are truly suffering and need that comfort.
“Hopefully very few people will ever have to be in that position to make that choice, but if they want to it’s there. So it’s a good day.”
“This isn’t a life and death matter, this is just a method of death matter”
For Lorna Pirozzolo, who has terminal breast cancer and lives with extreme pain, the political noise around assisted dying has always often missed the central point.
“Some of the debating we heard in the States Chamber showed that a lot of people still don’t understand,” she said.
“They kept making it a life and death matter – and this isn’t a life and death matter, this is just a method of death matter.
“These people are in the active phase of dying – they can’t be saved. It’s not going to be reversed. They are dying. It’s about how they die. Do you want them to go through torture in their final weeks or months, or would you rather let them go peacefully?”
Following the vote yesterday, her thoughts were not on herself but on two men who did not live to see this day.
“At the moment, my thoughts really just are with Gary Burgess and Simon Boas, who had both asked me to keep up the fight. And so for me, this is for them” said Lorna.
“It’s taken a lot out of me with my health and stuff, so I don’t think I could have got through it without their motivation to do it for them and keep on fighting.
“I’m sad they didn’t see this day, but I’m really glad that, if we have an 18-month implementation period, actually a lot of people are going to have that choice at the end.”
Lorna also addressed those disappointed that so-called “Route 2” – extending eligibility beyond terminal illness – was not adopted.
“I know there are people who wanted Route 2, and I feel a lot of empathy for them,” she said.
“But, for me, Route 2 is that bit more difficult. I think it does have to be its own fight, and it has to be fought by people for whom that’s their experience. That’s not my experience, so I’m not going to fight their fight for them.
“I get that it’s tough for them. I’ve seen what people go through with multiple sclerosis and other neurological conditions and I feel really sad for them, but I think to bring in a law for that kind of assisted dying, there’s there’s got to be so much more to it.
“There need to be discussions with different experts and a lot more work done to make that safe.”
For now, she says, this law is about those already dying.
“More safeguards than the status quo”
Fran Hall, campaign manager for Dignity in Dying, travelled to Jersey specifically for the debate.
For her, the Island has done something Westminster has repeatedly failed to do: legislate carefully, openly and thoroughly.
“This is detailed and robust legislation,” she said shortly after the vote. “There are a huge amount of safeguards and protections in there.
“Critically, there are more safeguards than you would witness under the status quo.”
It is a line campaigners have repeated throughout the process: that assisted dying, brought into the light and regulated, is safer than what already happens in the shadows.
“When there is not the legal, safe option of assisted dying, people are forced to take matters into their own hands or travel abroad at huge expense to other countries where it might be possible,” she explained.
Fran was unequivocal in her praise for the Island’s political process.
“Jersey’s had a hugely thorough, detailed, and really respectful debate,” she said. “I commend States Members for taking the issue really seriously and really thoughtfully and considerably.
“I think other parliaments across the UK could learn from the way Jersey has conducted this extremely thoroughly by consulting with locals and islanders throughout the process.”
She pointed to the 2021 citizens’ jury, public meetings and years of consultation as evidence that this was no rushed reform.
“I think Jersey has built a really robust, safeguarded framework,” she added.
“They’ve also looked towards other countries that have legalised assisted dying – because now over 300 million people worldwide live in jurisdictions where it’s legal.
“Jersey has really looked towards those blueprints and adopted the best parts of lots of those legislations and, importantly, crafted the law that’s right for Jersey as well.”
“I’m so relieved there’s a safety blanket now”
For Jayne Simpson, a member of End of Life Choices Jersey, it was an “emotional” day.
“I’ve lost quite a few people with cancer, including two of my immediate family members,” she said.
“I witnessed what my mother went through, which was a very long time ago, and there was very little treatment – let alone palliative care.
“Morphine just didn’t do it, and it doesn’t for a lot of people. The drugs are not enough.”
The romanticised notion of a gentle drifting away does not, she insisted, reflect the reality many families endure.
“It’s distressing for the family to watch people struggle and in awful pain,” she said. “I know people that have had PTSD from their experience of watching loved ones.
“Some people lose consciousness and just pass peacefully away, but often that’s not the case.”
For Jayne, the legislation is not about encouraging death but about offering reassurance.
“I’m so relieved that there’s a safety blanket now that, if it all gets too much, you can opt to take a more humane way out,” she said.
“And in those instances, I think it’s so important to be able to say, ‘right, that’s enough, now I need to go’.”
