A 95-year old woman smiled and toasted her family at Dignitas in Switzerland, before she downed a glass of barbiturates during assisted suicide.

Isabel Higgins, a retired teacher in Woking, Surrey, assured her daughter that laughter was the best medicine as she burst into giggles just 10 minutes before her passing.

As Stephanie Harris, her daughter, slipped out of consciousness with two nurses at the end of life centre, she was still holding her daughter’s hand.

Her death comes as peers are debating legislation in Parliament to enable adults with no hope of recovery to legally seek assistance to end their lives in the UK.

Isabel had to drink the first glass she toasted with in order to prevent her from becoming sick before her second fatal dose.

A 95-year-old woman cheerfully toasted her family at the Dignitas clinic (pictured) in Switzerland before downing a glass of barbiturates during her assisted suicide

A 95-year-old woman joyfully toasts her family at the Dignitas Clinic (pictured in Switzerland) before enjoying a glass with barbiturates during her assisted death

The Mirror spoke with Stephanie: “She was smiling and laughing when she took the drink. There was no hesitation. She was happy to go, and she was in control. She wanted to be independent and was about to become free. 

“Everyone was laughing at her jokes, and everyone was in total hysterics with her. She loved laughter – and loved life, but she’d had enough of this one. My mum was not going to use her return tickets to the UK, even though we both had return tickets.

Isabel asked her daughter Isabel to record her final moments so that she could push for changes in law to allow assisted death.

Opponents argue that the current measures do not allow vulnerable people to be forced into ending their lives.

Isabel Higgins, a retired teacher from Woking, Surrey, reassured her daughter that 'laughter is the best medicine' in the clinic (pictured)

Isabel Higgins (pictured), a retired teacher from Woking in Surrey, assured her daughter that “laughter is best medicine” in the clinic.

Frank Field, 79 years old, was a former Labour minister and now supports assisted dying legislation 

Frank Field, a former minister, revealed that he is now terminally ill and urged Lords for an easier law to allow assisted death.

The 79-year-old was too ill to attend Parliament as peers debated changing legislation to enable adults with no hope of recovery to legally seek assistance to end their lives. 

In a message that was read in the upper chamber, a former MP and friend to Tory PM Margaret Thatcher, who represented Birkenhead from 40 years until 2019, said that he had recently spent time in a hospice.

The Baron Field of Birkenhead is now a baron and has never been married to or had children. He cited a friend who had suffered the ‘full horror consequences’ of cancer as a reason for changing the law.

The announcement was shocking to many at Parliament as he did not reveal the nature of his illness. Robert Jenrick, former Tory housing secretary, praised him as “one of the politicians that I most admired and respected”.

Baroness Meacher read out the message from the peer, whom she said was ‘dying’,  in which he said: ‘I changed my mind on assisted dying when an MP friend dying of cancer wanted to die early before the full horror effects set in, but was denied this opportunity.

“A major argument in favor of the Bill is not founded. Some believe that culture would change and people would be forced to end life.

“The number of assisted deaths in Australia and the US remains very low – less than 1% – and a former supreme Court judge of Victoria, Australia about pressure from family members said it hasn’t been an issue. 

“I hope that the House will vote today for the Assisted Dying Act.”

Isabel was not diagnosed with terminal illness and was ready to end the rest of her life after having lived for 95 years, during which she had traveled extensively around the world.

She was afflicted by poor eyesight and Alzheimer’s, but otherwise she was in good health.

Isabel, in her final message, recorded last Thursday, praised Dignitas volunteers. She stated that she wished more people could end life this way if it was possible.

She said that she wished other people could receive the same wonderful help as her family, but also from Dignitas. There is always a time for everyone.

The former teacher claimed that she had seen the effects on her health and old age through friends and family members and didn’t want them to be a burden.

The family said it took two years to arrange the end-of-life paperwork and have medical reports compiled which cost a total of around £15,000. 

Daughter Stephanie stated that they shared many happy moments during that time, and would have been happy to end Isabel’s life then. 

She would like to scatter the ashes of her mother in East Africa, where Isabel worked previously as an education boss for Commonwealth.

After a touching last message to Stephanie Isabel took her last sip and said “Prost” before adding: “That wasn’t bad.”

Minutes later, she was gone.

Stephanie said she wasn’t sad at all, and was ‘glad’ her mother was free. However, she acknowledged feeling grief.

Downing Street suggested today to MPs that they will be allowed to vote on this bill free of charge when it comes before the Commons. A spokesperson said it was a matter of individual conscience.

The Assisted Dying bill, introduced by Baroness Meacher, a crossbencher, gives patients who are in good health and have less than six months left to live the right to die with life-ending medication.

Later, she joined protestors calling for reform outside of Parliament as the debate continued.

They gathered in Westminster with placards that said “Yes to dignity” and “Yes to choice”.

The House of Lords has given the Bill its second reading on Friday. It would allow terminally ill people to legally seek help to end their lives.

It would allow adults with a good mind and less than six months to live to receive life-ending medication, with approval from two doctors and a High court judge.

Campaigners believe it will give people suffering from terminal illnesses more control over their death and protect their loved ones.

A person who is convicted of aiding or trying to commit suicide can be sent to jail for up to 14 year.

The bill stipulates that the person who wants to end his or her life must sign a declaration, which is approved by two doctors and signed off by High Court.

What an “assisted death” is not? It’s not an instant lethal injection. It’s an overdose of common drugs which can take hours or even days to kill. These alarming cases show.

David Rose, Daily Mail   

Kurt Huschle knew he wanted to die. At 58, he was diagnosed with incurable gallstone-duct cancer. He was in pain and his pain medication did not seem to work. He was once a strong, fit man who had been reduced to a walking skeleton.

Kurt, an engineer for aircraft, and Susan, his wife, voted in favor of a new law that would allow doctors in Colorado to prescribe a lethal combination of drugs to terminally ill patients.

On July 10 the following year — their 24th wedding anniversary — Susan booked a table at their favourite restaurant in their town, Highlands Ranch, but Kurt was so ill he could barely stay awake, let alone eat. Unable to climb the stairs to their bedroom, he was sleeping in the sitting room — and, six days later, he woke her in the middle of the night. ‘I want to die. Will you just let me go?’ he said.

Susan held him and tried to soothe him: ‘We’ll figure it out.’

Colorado law required that the couple ask two doctors to sign off that Kurt had less than six months left to live. They also filled out forms indicating that Kurt wanted to die at any time.

The prescribed drug cocktail had been ordered and the pharmacy was ready to supply liquid form. They were told that the process would take between two to four hours.

Kurt Huschle was certain he wanted to die. Diagnosed at 58 with incurable bile-duct cancer, he was in agony and his pain medication no longer seemed to work. Once a fit and muscular man, he had been reduced to a walking skeleton. Pictured: Kurt with his wife Susan in 2008

Kurt Huschle knew he wanted to die. At 58, he was diagnosed with incurable gallstone-duct cancer. He was in pain and his pain medication did not seem to work. He was once a strong, muscular man who had been reduced to a walking skeleton. Pictured: Kurt with Susan in 2008

As required by Colorado law, the couple had already asked two doctors to certify that he had less than six months to live, and filled out forms making it clear that Kurt wished to die at a moment of his choosing

Colorado law required that the couple ask two doctors to confirm that Kurt had less than six months left to live. They also filled out forms indicating that Kurt wanted to die at any time he chose.

Kurt remained firm in his decision, and a nurse arrived at the house to check it. Kurt was ready to leave at noon. Following the instructions, Susan combined the contents of two small containers into one larger container and gave it to Kurt.

She expected him to finish the drug cocktail, have a last hug, and then go home.

Instead, as Susan later told the Denver Post newspaper: ‘With every sip he’s choking and coughing, choking and coughing.’

After about 20 minutes, she said that he began to gasp unsteadily. He seemed to have lost consciousness. He was still alive after four hours.

Susan was scared and upset and called a doctor to ask for help. It was then that she realized Kurt might still have some consciousness and be able to hear her.

Kurt stopped breathing after eight hours of taking the drugs. Kurt finally woke up at 8.15pm.

Susan said that she still believed it was right to assist him in his death. They were not able say goodbye to each other as she wanted.

Kurt’s story has relevance for Britain, as today peers will give Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill its second reading.

It is also featured prominently in the dossier of the All-Party Parliamentary Group, (APPG) Dying Well, which is composed of 30 MPs plus five peers.

The Group is setting up an inquiry into questions which, it says, the Bill leaves unanswered — not only major ethical issues but the physical details of what it really means to be helped to die.

Many of us assume that assisted dying means being injected with a lethal dose of a drug such as morphine by a doctor, then going ‘gentle into that good night’.

But it doesn’t. That describes euthanasia — which, although legal in Belgium, the Netherlands and some other countries, is not envisaged here, for fear it might allow a new Harold Shipman, the family GP-turned- serial killer who is thought to have murdered up to 250 patients by giving them opiate overdoses.

It does not mean that Dignitas will be introduced in this country. This Swiss society provides assisted/accompanied suicide and is supported by independent doctors to those with terminal or severe mental illness. In total, around 350 Britons have been assisted to die. This, a spokeswoman for the Bill’s supporters told me, is not in their plans, either.

Baroness Grey-Thompson, who won 16 Paralympian medals as a wheelchair athlete, and is a member of the APPG, says: ¿Assisted dying is portrayed as this Hollywood death where you just slip away . . . the reality is not like this and people need to be made aware of it¿

Baroness Grey-Thompson, who won 16 Paralympian medals as a wheelchair athlete, and is a member of the APPG, says: ‘Assisted dying is portrayed as this Hollywood death where you just slip away . . . the reality is not like this and people need to be made aware of it’

Instead, Meacher’s Bill would create something similar to the system used in Colorado and other American states. It would allow prescription of a drug cocktail at a lethal dose, for those who meet certain criteria.

Two doctors must have certified the patient that they have less than six month to live. They also need to have asked permission from the High Court to make the decision. The patient must also have the mental capacity to make the decision.

The only major difference from the U.S. system is that under Baroness Meacher’s Bill, a doctor would be present until the patient died. However, the patient must administer lethal doses.

Even those paralysed or suffering from motor neurone disease would have to push a button to operate an intravenous pump — or even, in extreme cases, ‘switch it on’ with a blink. However, most people would need to consume a drug cocktail just like Kurt.

Baroness Grey-Thompson, who won 16 Paralympian medals as a wheelchair athlete, and is a member of the APPG, says: ‘Assisted dying is portrayed as this Hollywood death where you just slip away . . . the reality is not like this and people need to be made aware of it.’

According to House of Lords convention the Assisted Dying Act will be passed unopposed. The bill then moves to its committee stage. If it is successful, it will be moved to the Commons, where there will be a political battle.

Boris Johnson is said to be firmly opposed and, on Wednesday, the heads of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths issued an unprecedented joint statement, saying that while they accepted that the Bill’s supporters wanted to alleviate suffering, it would put the vulnerable at risk. The way to help people die well was better palliative care, they said: ‘The aim of a compassionate society should be assisted living rather than an acceptance of assisted suicide.’

These matters will not be ignored by the APPG inquiry. Its co-chair, Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, an NHS palliative care consultant, told me: ‘There are too many stories about bad terminal care but the Bill won’t make it better —quite the reverse. This could leave patients facing a difficult choice: dying at their hands or living longer, but having to endure suffering that could’ve been avoided.

‘It will send the message that when people are ill and distressed, they should have their lives ended by lethal [doses of] drugs, rather than doing everything possible to improve their situation and valuing them as people.’

Baroness Grey-Thompson told the Mail she feared what it might mean for the disabled and other vulnerable individuals if the Bill became law: ‘You’re not too far away from seeing this as a way of getting rid of people. Once it passes, there will be no going back.’

The inquiry will also look into matters such as the prescription of drugs, their effectiveness, and whether they cause suffering.

It will also gather evidence about what happens at Dignitas. There is not much data available.

These concerns are outlined in the APPG dossier. It highlights other cases in the U.S., as well as Kurt Huschle’s.

One is David Prueitt, a lung cancer patient from Oregon. He took dozens of pills of a powerful barbiturate and woke up 65 hours later.

His wife told a local paper that when he regained consciousness, he asked: ‘What the hell happened? Why am I not dead?’ He lived for another two weeks before dying of natural causes.

Oregon has the most comprehensive published data, as assisted dying is legal in Oregon since 1997. To the end of 2020, a total of 1,905 people tried to die with a doctor’s help.

According to the state’s annual report on the subject, information about possible complications is available in 775 cases. Eight of these people woke up after having taken their drug cocktail. But there were 33 cases of ‘difficulty ingesting’ and ‘regurgitating’ the drugs, and three people had seizures. A further 16 patients experienced unspecified ‘other’ complications.

This means that there were 60 cases in which things didn’t go as planned, either because of complications or death.

Yesterday, Baroness Meacher told the Mail that, in Oregon, the ‘average’ time to unconsciousness is five minutes; and to death, half an hour. However, these are just median averages that conceal a wide range of possible outcomes.

According to the official state report the time between taking the drug and losing consciousness was only one minute. The longest was four hours.

As to dying, the time between ingestion and death varied from one minute to 104 hours — more than four days. The median was 30 minutes, while the average was 137 minutes.

These issues are exacerbated by drugs currently being used, according to the APPG dossier. The ‘drugs of choice’ would be barbiturates, which depress the central nervous system and were once commonly used to treat anxiety, sleep problems and as anti-convulsants.

But because of the widespread abuse of barbiturates — they can cause physical and psych- ological dependence and have overdose potential — they are no longer available in the large-dose formulations needed for assisted dying in America.

This has forced doctors to use ‘cocktails’, usually of four separate and commonly used drugs, for a purpose for which they have never been intended or tested.

Kurt¿s story has relevance for Britain, as today peers will give Baroness Meacher¿s Assisted Dying Bill its second reading

Kurt’s story has relevance for Britain, as today peers will give Baroness Meacher’s Assisted Dying Bill its second reading

According to the APPG dossier, there is evidence that such cocktail have prolonged the average time from ingestion to death. Indeed, the official Oregon report says: ‘All drug combinations have shown longer median times until death than the barbiturates, which are no longer readily available.’

The dossier adds: ‘No medical association oversees assisted suicide and no government committee helps to fund research on the prescribed drugs . . . To ensure patient outcomes, drug products for medical use must be approved.

‘The drugs being prescribed for assisted suicide have not undergone such assessments and it remains unclear which drug or drug combination is most effective for bringing about a quick and peaceful assisted death.’

According to the APPG, this is why there is a need for a thorough inquiry. The Bill does not specify which drugs should be used. It only states that the matter will be decided by the Health Secretary.

Dr Martin Scurr is a GP and Mail columnist. He believes that there should be no comparison between Britain and Oregon and other U.S. states if Assisted Dying Bill becomes law. He believes the British pharmaceutical industry could readily ‘gear up’ to meet a need for large-dose formulations of barbiturates, obviating the need for drug cocktails.

‘Clinical pharmacologists would have to agree what was the right dose [to achieve death],’ Dr Scurr says. ‘No one wants to prescribe a drug for someone who wants to die who takes it, then wakes up.’

The public and political debate in Britain over Meacher’s Bill is likely to be contentious. The controversy continues in Oregon, 20 years after assisted suicide was legalized.

Palliative care physician Dr Chandana Banerjee, of the City of Hope National Medical Centre in California, said: ‘The medications used for medical aid in dying are the same time-tested ones used for many medical purposes’ and added that she had helped many patients to die, ‘to gently end unbearable suffering’.

However, Oregon surgeon Dr Brick Lantz told the Mail : ‘Only a minority of physicians [in Oregon]Many are not trained for this job and will do it. It offends our fundamental philosophy: not to do harm, but good.’

Yet Baroness Meacher said yesterday: ‘My Bill is modest in its scope, yet its potential to transform all our lives and deaths for the better is colossal. It would allow terminally ill, mentally competent individuals whose suffering is beyond palliative care’s reach to die on their own terms.

‘Many more would be comforted by the simple fact of its existence, regardless of what they might choose. It is an insurance policy against intolerable suffering.’

She added: ‘If we truly care about protecting our dying citizens, we must give them the safe, legal choices they want, not abandon them as we do under the current law.’