South Africa still a long way from legalising assisted suicide'
Lester Kiewit speaks to Dr Helena Dolny, co-founder of LoveLegacyDignity, about assisted dying and the South African woman who had to fly to Switzerland to legally end her own life.
Photo: Unsplash/Diana Polekhina
'I do not think my God would refuse me my place in heaven. I have lost my will to live.'
Those are the words of the late Carol De Swardt speaking to the George Herald shortly before flying to Switzerland last month to be legally euthanized.
De Swardt died yesterday after choosing to end her life on her own terms.
The 63-year-old had been living with excruciating pain after being diagnosed with skin cancer in 2010.
She had also been rendered disabled by a leg amputation following radiation treatment she received in a state hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.
When asked her reason for wanting to end her life, de Swardt said she had been robbed of her quality of life.
'All these things were taken from me - fishing, swimming, and working in my garden', she told the Herald.
De Swardt spent some of the R4 million compensation awarded to her in a case against the Health Department to pay for her assisted death.
Currently assisted suicide remains illegal in South Africa. Dr Helena Dolny, co-founder of LoveLegacyDignity says we are a long way from legalising it:
'The opposition to assisted dying is coming from government.'
Dr Helena Dolny, Co-founder of LoveLegacyDignity
'We are a deeply Christian country and politicians want people who will vote for them and this will not be popular'
Dr Helena Dolny, Co-founder of LoveLegacyDignity
'I think the doctors are in a predicament, their entire training is around saving life'
Dr Helena Dolny, Co-founder of LoveLegacyDignity
De Swardt was assisted by Prof Sean Davison, the founder and director of DignitySA that is lobbying for a change to end-of-life legislation in South Africa.
Davison who is also the author of the memoir The Price of Mercy, oversees the Exit Swiss Assistance Programme.