‘I watched my wife die such an awful death she begged for a lethal injection’

Doctors told Warwick Jackson that palliative care would ensure his beloved wife Ann did not suffer before her death from terminal cancer.

But when the time came, she spent four days gasping for breath and remained lucid despite being given the maximum permitted dose of sedatives.

Warwick, 63, said: “Pain wasn’t Ann’s issue, breathing was. And palliative care can’t make you breathe when you’re suffocating.

“Innocently, I thought that this type of death didn’t happen in this day and age. I’ve been with people when they’ve died before but I had never witnessed anything like this.”

Four days before she died, 61-year-old Ann asked a night nurse to help end her life by administering a lethal dose of morphine.

READ MORE: ‘Mum was crying and telling us she wanted to die – I support assisted dying’

Her request was denied and, in desperation, Warwick considered taking matters into his own hands. He said: “I thought maybe if I was to smother her with a pillow, maybe I could finish it for her.

“But it takes more courage than I’ve got to do that. I didn’t do it and consequently her suffering went on for four days and nights.

“It was the most appalling death. I have never seen anything like it.”

Warwick said Ann received brilliant care from Macmillan nurses and the NHS, so he “doesn’t buy” the argument that assisted dying would not be needed if this country had better palliative care.

He added: “Ann was one of the unlucky ones for whom palliative care could not help. The same week when Ann died, a good friend of mine had his dog put down because it was suffering

“It was all over in a few moments. We afforded a better death to my friend’s dog than society has afforded to my wife Ann.”

A Private Member’s Bill seeking to legalise assisted dying only for terminally ill people nearing the end of life is due to face a second reading on November 29.

Warwick, who campaigns with Dignity in Dying, said MPs must remember when they vote on the Bill that they are elected to represent the views of the people.

He added: “If Ann’s story causes just one MP to think again on this issue, which people seem to be getting very entrenched in without listening to outside views, then it would have been worth my efforts to publicise it.

“It’s too late for Ann but it does feel worthy to be doing this for all those like Ann who have potentially got difficult times on the horizon. And that could be any one of us.”