Warning: This article mentions topics of suicide and euthanasia.
A British couple have both signed up to use a double ‘suicide pod’ so that they can die in eachother’s arms.
The pair made the decision to end their lives together after receiving a heartbreaking diagnosis.
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Peter Scott, 86, a retired RAF engineer, said that he can’t bear the thought of living without his wife Christine, 80, a retired nurse, after she was diagnosed with early-stage vascular dementia.
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In an interview, Peter said: “Look at the alternative. The chances of getting prompt NHS treatment for the ailments of old age seem pretty remote so you end up trapped by infirmity and pain.
“I don’t want to go into care, to be lying in bed dribbling and incontinent – I don’t call that a life.
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“Finally, the Government swoops in to take your savings and your house to pay for it all.”
The couple, who live in Mellis, Suffolk, will travel to Switzerland where voluntary assisted suicide has been legal in 1942.
Peter went on to say: “‘We have had long, happy, healthy, fulfilled lives but here we are in old age and it does not do nice things to you.
“The idea of watching the slow degradation of Chris’s mental abilities in parallel to my own physical decline is horrific to me.
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“Obviously I would care for her to the point I could not, but she has nursed enough people with dementia during her career to be adamant she wants to remain in control of herself and her life.
“Assisted dying gives her that opportunity and I would not want to go on living without her.
“We understand other people may not share our feelings and we respect their position. What we want is the right to choose.
“I find it deeply depressing we can’t do that here in the UK.”
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Instead, they intend to sign up to The Last Resort, which offers a controversial new method created by Philip Nitschke, who is also known as ‘Doctor Death’.
According to Nitschke, the suicide pod, Sarco, works within 10 minutes by replacing oxygen with nitrogen in what his company, Exit International, describes as ‘a peaceful, even euphoric death’.
Peter and Christine, who first met in a jazz club and now share six grandchildren, are planning out what their final days will look like.
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Christine said: “I’d like to go walking with Peter in the Swiss Alps, by a river.
“I’d have a beautiful plate of fish for my last supper, and enjoy a great bottle of Merlot.
“I’d make a playlist including Wild Cat Blues and The Young Ones by Cliff Richard and I’ve found a poem called Miss Me But Let Me Go, which sums up exactly how I feel.
“It’s a lovely life but I have this diagnosis, and that’s crystallized our thinking.
“Medicine can slow vascular dementia but it can’t stop it. At the point I thought I was losing myself, I’d say, ‘This is it, Pete, I don’t want to go any further’.”
Pete went on to add: “I’ve said to her, ‘You make the decision and I’ll be with you’. Death holds no problem for me whatsoever.
“I’d just give her a big hug and say, ‘Hope to see you later’.”