California Man Invites Bbc To Witness His Death As Mps Debate Assisted Dying

It's 10am, and successful a small complete 2 hours, Wayne Hawkins will beryllium dead.

The sun is sparkling connected nan bungalow wherever nan 80-year-old lives successful San Diego, California pinch his woman of much than 5 decades, Stella.

I sound connected nan doorway and meet his children - Emily, 48, and Ashley, 44 - who person spent nan past 2 weeks astatine their father's side.

Wayne sits successful a reclining chair wherever he spends astir of his days. Terminally ill, he is excessively anemic to time off nan house.

He has invited BBC News to witnesser his decease nether California's assisted dying laws - if MPs successful London ballot to legalise nan believe successful England and Wales, it will let immoderate terminally sick group present to dice successful a akin way.

Warning: This article contains specifications and descriptions immoderate readers whitethorn find disturbing

Half an hr aft arriving astatine Wayne's house, I watch him swallow 3 anti-nausea tablets, designed to minimise nan consequence of him vomiting nan lethal medicine he plans to return shortly.

Are you judge this time is your last, I inquire him? "I'm each in," he replies. "I was wished and decided weeks agone - I've had nary trepidation since then."

His family inquire for 1 past photo, which I take, and you tin spot astatine nan apical of this page. As usual, Stella and Wayne are holding hands.

Shortly after, Dr Donnie Moore arrives. He has sewage to cognize nan family complete nan past fewer weeks, visiting them connected respective occasions alongside moving his ain end-of-life clinic. Under California law, he is what is known arsenic nan attending expert who must confirm, successful summation to a 2nd doctor, that Wayne is eligible for assistance successful dying.

Dr Moore's domiciled is portion physician, portion counsellor successful this situation, 1 he has been successful for 150 assisted deaths before.

On a apical support successful Wayne's chamber sits a brownish solid vessel containing a good achromatic powder - a substance of 5 drugs, sedatives and painkillers, delivered to nan location 4 weeks before. The dosage of narcotics wrong is hundreds of times higher than those utilized successful regular healthcare and is "guaranteed" to beryllium fatal, Dr Moore explains. Unlike California, nan projected rule astatine Westminster would require a expert to bring immoderate specified medicine pinch them.

When Wayne signals he is ready, nan expert mixes nan meds pinch cherry and pineapple juice to soften nan bitter sensation - and he hands this pinkish liquid to Wayne.

No one, not moreover nan doctor, knows really agelong it will return him to dice aft taking nan lethal drugs. Dr Moore explains to maine that, successful his experience, decease usually occurs betwixt 30 minutes and 2 hours of ingestion, but connected 1 juncture it took 17 hours.

This is nan communicative of really and why Wayne chose to die. And why others person decided not to travel nan aforesaid course.

We first met nan mates a fewer weeks earlier, erstwhile Wayne explained why he was going up pinch nan determination to person an assisted decease - a arguable measurement successful different parts of nan world.

"Some days nan symptom is almost much than I tin handle," he said. "I conscionable don't spot immoderate merit to dying slow and painfully, hooked up pinch worldly - intubation, feeding tubes," he told me. "I want nary of it."

Wayne said he had watched 2 relatives dice "miserable", "heinous" deaths from bosom failure.

"I dislike hospitals, they are miserable. I will dice successful nan thoroughfare first."

Wayne met Stella successful 1969; nan mates joined 4 years later. He told america it was thing of an arranged marriage, arsenic his mother kept inviting Stella for meal until yet nan penny dropped that he should return her out.

They lived for galore years successful Arcata, bluish California, surrounded by sweeping forests of redwood trees, wherever Wayne worked arsenic a scenery architect, while Stella was a superior schoolhouse teacher. They spent their holidays hiking and camping pinch their children.

Now Wayne is terminally sick pinch bosom failure, which has already brought him adjacent to death. He has myriad different wellness issues including prostate cancer, liver nonaccomplishment and sepsis which brings him superior spinal pain.

He is expected to unrecorded little than six months, qualifying him for an assisted decease successful California. His petition to dice has been approved by 2 doctors and nan lethal medicine is self-administered.

It was during our first gathering that he asked nan BBC to return to observe his last day, saying he wanted terminally sick adults successful nan UK to person nan aforesaid correct to an assisted decease arsenic him.

"Britain is beautiful bully pinch freedoms and this is conscionable different one," he said. "People should beryllium capable to take nan clip of their decease arsenic agelong arsenic they meet nan rules for illustration six months to unrecorded aliases less."

Stella, 78, supports his decision. "I've known him for complete 50 years. He's a very independent man. He's ever known what he wants to do and he's ever fixed things. That's really he's operating now. If this is his choice, I decidedly agree, and I've seen him really suffer pinch nan unwellness he's got. I don't want that for him."

Wayne would besides suffice nether nan projected caller assisted dying rule successful England and Wales. The measures return to nan House of Commons later this month, erstwhile each MPs will person a chance to statement and ballot connected changes to nan Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The projected legislation, tabled by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, says that anyone who wants to extremity their life must person nan intelligence capacity to make nan choice, that they must beryllium expected to dice wrong six months, and must make 2 abstracted declarations - witnessed and signed - astir their wish to die. They must fulfill 2 independent doctors that they are eligible.

MPs successful Westminster voted successful favour of assisted dying successful rule past November but stay bitterly divided connected nan issue. If they yet determine to o.k. nan bill, it could go rule wrong nan adjacent twelvemonth and travel into believe wrong nan adjacent 4 years.

There are besides divisions present successful California, wherever assisted dying was introduced successful 2016. Michelle and Mike Carter, some 72 and joined for 43 years, are each being treated for crab - Mike has prostate crab that has dispersed to his lymph nodes, and Michelle's precocious terminal ovarian crab has dispersed passim overmuch of her body.

"I held my mother's manus erstwhile she passed; I held my father's manus erstwhile he passed," Michelle told me. "I judge there's state of prime nevertheless for me, I take palliative care… I person God and I person bully medicine."

Michelle's physician, palliative attraction master Dr Vincent Nguyen, based on that assisted dying laws successful nan US authorities lead to "silent coercion" whereby susceptible group deliberation their only action is to die. "Instead of ending people's lives, let's put programmes together to attraction for people," he said. "Let them cognize that they're loved, they're wanted and they're worthy."

He said nan rule meant that doctors person gone from being seen arsenic healers to killers, while nan connection from nan healthcare strategy was that "you are amended disconnected dead, because you're costly and your decease is cheaper for us".

Some disablement campaigners opportunity assisted dying makes them consciousness unsafe. Ingrid Tischer, who has muscular dystrophy and chronic respiratory failure, told me: "The connection that it sends to group pinch disabilities successful California is that you merit termination assistance alternatively than termination prevention erstwhile you sound a desire to extremity your life.

"What does that opportunity astir who we are arsenic a culture?"

Critics often opportunity that erstwhile assisted dying is legalised, complete clip nan safeguards astir specified laws get eroded arsenic portion of a "slippery slope" towards much relaxed criteria. In California, location was initially a mandatory 15-day cooling disconnected play betwixt patients making a first and 2nd petition for assistance successful dying. That has been reduced to 48 hours because galore patients were dying during nan waiting period. It's thought nan support process envisaged successful Westminster would return astir a month.

Outside Wayne's location connected nan greeting of his death, a solitary vertebrate originates its large and elaborate song. "There's that mockingbird retired there," Wayne tells Stella, arsenic smiles flicker crossed their faces.

Wayne hates nan vertebrate because it keeps him awake astatine night, Stella jokes, manus successful manus pinch him to 1 broadside of his chair. Emily and Ashley are adjacent to Stella.

Dr Moore, seated connected Wayne's different side, hands him nan pinkish liquid which he swallows without hesitation. "Goodnight," he says to his family - a emblematic touch of humour from a man who told america he was wished to dice connected his terms. It's 11.47am.

After 2 minutes, Wayne says he is getting sleepy. Dr Moore asks him to ideate he is stepping successful a immense oversea of flowers pinch a soft breeze connected his skin, which seems due for a diligent who has spent overmuch of his life among nature.

After 3 minutes Wayne enters a heavy slumber from which he will ne'er wake. On a fewer occasions he lifts his caput to return a heavy activity without opening his eyes, astatine 1 constituent opening to snore softly.

Dr Moore tells nan family this is "the deepest slumber imaginable" and reassures Emily location is nary chance her dada will aftermath up and ask, "did it work?"

"Oh that would beryllium conscionable for illustration him," Stella says pinch a laugh.

The family commencement to reminisce astir hiking holidays and driving astir successful a ample van they converted to go a camper. "Me and dada insulated it and put a furniture successful nan back," says Ashley.

On nan walls are photos of Emily and Ashley arsenic mini children adjacent to immense carved Halloween pumpkins.

Dr Moore is still stroking Wayne's manus and occasionally checking his pulse. For a man who Emily says was "always walking, ever outdoors, ever active", these are nan last moments of life's journey, spent surrounded by those who mean astir to him.

At 12.22pm Dr Moore says, "I deliberation he's passed… He's astatine bid now."

Outside, nan mockingbird has fallen silent. "No much pain," says Stella, embracing her children successful her arms.

I measurement extracurricular to springiness nan family immoderate space, and bespeak connected what we person conscionable seen and filmed.

I person been covering aesculapian morals for nan BBC for much than 20 years. In 2006, I was coming conscionable extracurricular an flat successful Zurich wherever Dr Anne Turner, a retired doctor, died pinch nan thief of nan group Dignitas - but California was nan first clip I had been an eyewitness to an assisted death.

This isn't conscionable a communicative astir 1 man's decease successful California - it's astir what could go a reality present successful England and Wales for those who suffice for an assisted decease and take to dice this way.

Whether you're for aliases against nan projected caller Westminster law, nan decease of a loved 1 is simply a profoundly individual and affectional clip for a family. Each decease leaves an imprint, arsenic will Wayne's.

Additional reporting by Joshua Falcon.

Top image shows Wayne pinch his woman Stella (right) and children Emily and Ashley (left), taken connected nan time of his death.