Paul Lamb: New Face Of Right-To-Die Battle

Right-To-Die Witness Statement

Updated: 11:03pm UK, Wednesday 17 April 2013

An extract from Paul Lamb's witness statement at the Court of Appeal outlines his case.

... As a result of the accident, I have been left with quadriplegia and have no function in any of my limbs apart from a little movement in my right hand. I have had to have a urethral catheter inserted and bowel movement is managed by suppositories or enema by carers and manual evacuation of the rectum ever since. This is all immensely distressing to me.

… From being fit and healthy I have become virtually housebound and have had great problems in adjusting to the severe level of disability which I have suffered.

… I have lived with these conditions for nearly 23 years now … There have been times when I have felt depressed in the past notably in about 2005/2-06. However, now I would say categorically that I am not depressed and I am not taking any medication for depression. I just feel sad about the pointlessness of my life.

… I am provided with carers 24 hours a day every day. An additional carer comes in daily at about 9.30-11am to help with the task of getting me out of bed, washing me, getting me dresses and then seated in my wheelchair. Usually I have breakfast in bed before being washed and dressed. I eat normal food but I am Diabetic and have to make allowances for this.

For the rest of the day, I sit in my wheelchair. In good weather I can go out in theory, but when the weather is not good - which is for most of the year, I do not go out at all. This means that for the majority of the year I am housebound. My body has no thermostat and my temperature can drop very fast and I can get ill very easily in the winter from chest infections, pneumonia and the suchlike. I will not hazard going out in the winter as a consequence.

My days are very long and very tedious. The only part of my body that I can move is my right arm which I can move to a very limited extent. I have a Possum system which enables me to operate the telephone and the computer system. I wear a switch around my neck and I can flick the switch on, which then gets the cursor moving to the place that I want. I have no finger control at all and nor do I have any forward thrust.

...My limited hand movement allows me to throw my hand against a switch to get it on and then the cursor lands on a letter and I can tap it and get it to the right place in order to do what I need to do in terms of operating the Possum system by which I can use the telephone and computer. I cannot send emails using this system and have to ask care staff to do this for me. This presents a problem with private emails. Sometimes I ask my sister to help me in this respect. However, I am keen to maintain my privacy.

… I can operate an electric wheelchair by throwing my right hand onto the joystick and forming a claw onto it, just enough to be able to use my right hand to drive the chair. However, if there was a problem and I went off course with my wheelchair, I would not be able to deal with it. As a consequence I can only go out in my wheelchair with the assistance of a carer.

I have to have someone with me at all times. This means that I cannot develop any sort of relationship with anyone. I do not have any independence at all.

I am fed by carers. I cannot use my hand for example to put pills in my mouth, I cannot do anything with my hand that requires precision. If someone puts a pen in my hand, I can just about make a movement to sign a document.

In the last 23 years, I have endured a significant amount of pain. I am in pain every single hour of every single day. I have received input from various pain specialists. I have considered having operations. I am constantly on morphine. I suffer from severe pains in the back of my head. I suffer from a pain in my shoulders where the bone has worn away.

I consider that I have lived with these conditions for a lot of years and have given it my best shot. Now I feel worn out and I am genuinely fed up with my life. I feel that I cannot and do not want to keep living. I feel trapped by the situation and I have no way out. I am not getting any younger and I cannot carry on as all that my life consists of is being fed and watered. I have very little else in my life. I spend my day sitting in my wheelchair. I can watch movies on television but really I am not interested or engaged in them. I do not enjoy reading and although I have a Kindle, I feel that it is pointless.

I feel that the truth is that I have had enough. I have been in pain since July 1990 and there is no way of getting rid of the root pain. My daily routine is tedious, monotonous and pointless. I often go to bed early at 5pm - such is the pointlessness of it all.

…What I would like to do is be able to hug those people who are closest to me and say goodbye to them. I wish to end my life in a dignified way, preferably without pain. I wish to find peace. I genuinely feel this way and it is not because I am feeling sorry for myself. I want the dignity of dying with loved ones around me at home. I want to be able to say "I love you to bits, and have a good life, and think well of me". I believe that enough is enough. I feel genuinely terrified by the fact of not having any choices left and having no control or autonomy over my life. I do not wish to go to Switzerland. Why should I go to a foreign and alien country to die?

I would like a doctor to help me to die, without pain and suffering, preferably by a lethal injection with my family around me in my own home.

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