Patient Dies After Asking Doctors To Turn Off Her Pacemaker In The UK's 'First Assisted Dying' Case

A female patient with a heart condition died after she asked doctors to turn off her pacemaker in what is believed to be the UK's first assisted dying case

Patient with rare heart condition dies after asking doctors to turn off her pacemaker in the UK's 'first assisted dying' case

• Nina Adamowicz, who died last October, had her pacemaker fitted in 1996
• Her doctor, not yet named, agreed to switch off her pacemaker last year
• Active euthanasia and assisted suicide are still illegal under English law

A female patient with a heart condition died after she asked doctors to turn off her pacemaker in what is believed to be the UK's first assisted dying case.

Nina Adamowicz, who is believed to have died last October, had her first pacemaker fitted in 1996.

She had a heart attack ten years later but by late 2014, her heart was working at less than 10 per cent capacity.


Adamowicz spoke to the BBC in January 2015 and described her desire to end her own life.

The patient, then 71, told the BBC: 'I strongly believe that I have the right to decide if I want it [the pacemaker] on or off.'

She added: 'I feel that [there is] life, and death is other side of the same coin.

'I'd like to know what is there.

'It's not about "I want to die", I'm dying.'

Her doctor, whose name is not yet known, and her local hospital trust's ethics committee agreed to switch off her pacemaker after a series of medical examinations and psychological tests.

After gaining her doctor's approval, Adamowicz went into her local hospice where her doctor turned the pacemaker off. She died the next day.

Campaigners have however raised concerns about the moral and legal ramifications related to assisted dying, which is illegal in the UK, and her doctors may now be open to prosecution.



Nina Adamowicz, who is believed to have died last October, had her first pacemaker fitted in 1996

Adamowicz was Polish but had lived in Britain for 30 years.

Both active euthanasia and assisted suicide are still illegal under English law.

Depending on the circumstances, euthanasia is regarded as either manslaughter or murder and is punishable by law, with a maximum penalty of up to life imprisonment.

Assisted suicide is illegal under the terms of the Suicide Act (1961) and is punishable by up to 14 years' imprisonment. Attempting to kill yourself is not a criminal act in itself.


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