A woman has admitted giving her terminally ill seven-year-old child a huge dose of morphine to end his suffering more than 40 years ago.
Antonya Cooper said her son Hamish had experienced “horrendous suffering and intense pain” as a result of his stage four cancer and “beastly” treatment.
“On Hamish’s last night, when he said he was in a lot of pain, I said: ‘Would you like me to remove the pain?’ and he said: ‘Yes please, mama’,” Cooper, 77, told BBC Radio Oxford.
“And through his Hickman Catheter, I gave him a large dose of morphine that did quietly end his life.”
Cooper, from Abingdon, Oxford, made the admission to help efforts to change the law on assisted dying. Helping someone to die is illegal in England, but both Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak have promised to give parliamentary time to debate the issue.
In 2015, MPs rejected moves to allow assisted dying by 330 votes to 118. But support for change has grown significantly both among MPs and the general public. Opinion polls have shown 75% of the public back legalisation of assisted dying.
Cooper is terminally ill herself, and said her diagnosis had reinforced her views in assisted dying. “We don’t do it to our pets. Why should we do it to humans?” she said.
Hamish was diagnosed at five years old with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that mostly affects children. He was initially given a prognosis of three months.
After 16 months of cancer treatment at Great Ormond Street Hospital, his life was extended but he was left in great pain, his mother said.
Cooper was asked during the Radio Oxford interview if she believed her son knew she was intending to end his life.
She said: “I feel very strongly that at the point of Hamish telling me he was in pain, and asking me if I could remove his pain, he knew, he knew somewhere what was going to happen.
“But I cannot obviously tell you why or how, but I was his mother, he loved his mother, and I totally loved him, and I was not going to let him suffer, and I feel he really knew where he was going.”
She added: “It was the right thing to do. My son was facing the most horrendous suffering and intense pain, I was not going to allow him to go through that.”
She said she understood that she was potentially admitting to manslaughter or murder.
“If they come 43 years after I have allowed Hamish to die peacefully, then I would have to face the consequences. But they would have to be quick, because I’m dying too,” she said.
In parts of the UK and British Isles, steps are being taken towards legalising assisted dying. The Isle of Man – a crown dependency with its own legislature – could become the first jurisdiction to change the law with a bill progressing through the Tynwald. Assisted dying could be available to residents from 2025.
Jersey, another crown dependency, is also set to vote on legislation next year. If it passes, an assisted dying service for residents would likely be in place by mid-2027.
In the Scottish parliament, a bill to allow assisted dying for terminally ill adults could have its first vote later this year.
Last year, the television personality Esther Rantzen reignited the debate on assisted dying when she disclosed that she was considering travelling to Dignitas in Zurich after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer.
She said: “I know palliative care can be wonderful in this country, but it cannot guarantee the dignified, pain-free death we terminally ill patients all hope for.”
