A healthy former nurse ended her life at a Swiss suicide clinic because she did not want to become an ‘old lady blocking beds in a hospital ward’.
Gill Pharaoh explained before her death that she was ‘ready to die’, despite not being terminally ill.
The 75-year-old mother-of-two wrote in a blog post: ‘I have had to make my exit while I am in my right mind and capable of doing so without too much assistance, because I am afraid of compromising the people around me whom I love.’
She continued: ‘I have written my goodbyes and tidied my life and hope I have managed to exit as unobtrusively as possible.
‘I have always held a donor card but that will be redundant now.
‘If I could have booked my death quite openly, I could have had a party before I died, in the way that people have done, and continue to do, in Switzerland and other places.
‘In which case, perhaps any of my body parts that could be reused could be collected immediately.
‘I could also be sure that I will never be an old lady blocking beds in a hospital ward. This would save the NHS a fortune.’
Mrs Pharaoh, from north London, traveled to the Lifecircle clinic in Basel for her assisted suicide on July 21.
And she told The Sunday Times: ‘I have looked after people who are old, on and off, all my life.
‘I have always said: “I am not getting old. I do not think old age is fun”.’
She dined with her husband John on her last evening before she died, and arranged a humanist funeral, which will be held later this week.
Mrs Pharaoh said: ‘It is not his [John’s] choice at all and my kids are backing me, although it is not their choice.
‘My daughter is a nurse and she said, “Intellectually, I know where you are coming from but emotionally, I am finding it really hard”, and I know she is.’
