Why I changed my mind over assisted dying

I’ve changed my mind. For the past few years I have had a pact with my husband that we will try to help each other die peacefully if either of us suffers from a debilitating, painful, terminal illness and we believe our quality of life has become unbearable. There is a reason for this. Both of us watched our fathers struggle with incurable conditions.

My father had dementia for 20 years and, while losing none of his charm, slowly lost all ability to communicate or comprehend life. My mother was his main carer and I think he would have worried, had he known, that he was exhausting her.

When he finally entered a care home, more than the indignity of being infantilised, I suspect he