DOWNEND’S MP has shared the story of her terminally-ill mother’s decision to end her own life alone, after suffering “excruciating” pain.
Claire Hazelgrove made a moving speech calling for an end to the “harmful status quo”, as Parliament debated a proposed law to allow people who have less than six months to live to seek medical help to die.
She said: “Last October, my mum, Ruth Hazelgrove, chose to bring her late-stage terminal illness to an end, on her terms, at home, with dignity and with a strength that I can only try to imagine.”
Ruth died aged 61, having been diagnosed with a rare blood cancer, polycythaemia vera, at the age of 32.
Ms Hazelgrove said that in 2024 her mum’s condition took a significant turn.
The Filton & Bradley Stoke MP said: “That autumn, while we debated the initial version of this Bill, her pain was excruciating.
“She had access to good palliative care, but what we learned the hardest of ways is that not all pain can be palliated.
“I will never forget seeing her writhing and screaming in pain, at points for weeks.
“For mum, it was not a choice of life or death; it was a question of what kind of death she would have.
“She was clear that she did not want a painful or undignified death. She wanted peace.
“For us, it will always be a tremendous personal sadness that the current law meant that she could not tell us her plan, and we could not say goodbye to her—but more importantly than that, that she could not say goodbye at the end of her life, or be surrounded by her loved ones, which is what she would have wanted for her death.
“Instead, the harmful status quo meant that mum died alone, with photos of us around her.”
Ms Hazelgrove said that in her final note, her mum wrote: “I wish the Assisted Dying Bill would have come into force in my lifetime…Maybe there will be hope for others in the future.”
After five hours of debate, MPs voted down the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by 286 votes to 270. A new version of the bill could be reintroduced next year.
Ms Hazelgrove and Bristol North East MP Damien Egan, whose constituency includes Staple Hill and Mangotsfield, both voted in favour of the bill.
Afterwards Ms Hazelgrove said she was glad to have spoken up for her mum and “others with terminal illnesses who want to have choice over their life and their death”.
She added: “The hardest part is knowing that many more people will now have to go through this same experience as my Mum, me, and my whole family, before this next comes back to the Commons – and I truly wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”