'We need to get the assisted dying law right'

Catie Fenner said campaigners for assisted dying and opposition should work together to ensure the bill "is about choice"

"If it means that we have to delay it to get it right, then that is what needs to happen."

This is what Catie Fenner from Didcot, Oxfordshire, whose mother travelled abroad to end her life in 2023, said about the delayed implementation of the Assisted Dying Bill.

In November 2024, MPs backed the bill that would give people who are terminally ill and in the final six months of their life in England and Wales the right to choose to end their own life. But current UK law prevents people from asking for medical help to die.

Ms Fenner said she believed campaigners and opposition should work together to ensure the bill "is about choice and one of the most robust in terms of safeguards in the world".

Ms Fenner described her mother as "an incredibly independent person who knew her own mind"

Her mother Alison was diagnosed with the incurable motor neurone disease (MND) in June 2022.

"She made the decision very quickly that she would not want to see the disease through to the end due to the horrendous state that your body ends up in."

Ms Fenner said Alison took out membership of Dignitas and went to Switzerland in February 2023.

She said her mother had had "the peaceful death that she wanted" but it had been "a horrendous ordeal" for her and the family.

They even had to keep it a secret even from the closest family members, which caused "one of the biggest stresses".

"If anybody found out and felt against it, they could have stopped her from going," she said.

"It would have meant that [we] could have got in trouble for it."

Alison was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in June 2022

Ms Fenner described her mother as "an incredibly independent person who knew her own mind", so initially, her decision had come as no surprise.

"But then the gravity of the situation came in of exactly what it meant - it was one of those things that you hear about that doesn't happen to you."

But she said that since they had told friends and family, "the support has been incredible".

"For those that knew my mum, they understood her decision.

"It has helped us to not completely overcome the trauma and everything we've been through, but it certainly helps to have their love and support around us."

• What is assisted dying and how could the law change?

Ms Fenner has been involved in the Dignity in Dying campaign

The Assisted Dying Bill has evoked fear in some that it could be vulnerable to misuse, or that people could be coerced into ending their lives early.

Others have called for the change to be made so that they have the option to die by choice in their country.

Since MPs voted in favour of it, changes have been made to the bill including a new commission and a panel system to oversee application, including Oxfordshire's Sean Woodcock.

That, however, means it could be four years before the law is fully implemented.

Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP bringing the bill expressed disappointment over the timeline but added that the "four-year backstop" did not mean it could not be implemented before then.

Ms Fenner, who has been involved in the Dignity in Dying campaign, attended a committee meeting on the proceedings on Tuesday.

"I have a lot of respect for the opposition and believe that we must work with them in order to ensure this bill is about choice and one of the most robust in terms of safeguards in the world," she said.

"If that means that we have to delay it to get it right and to make sure it's safe and everything's implemented properly, then that is what needs to happen."

Proposed laws to give terminally ill adults the right to choose to end their life have been agreed in the Isle of Man, which is part of the British Isles.