'My brother's assisted death in Australia shows why UK law must change'

The sister of a British man who chose to have an in days before his 40th birthday has said it "felt absolutely like the right thing to do". Rob Smyth moved to Queensland from Ware, Hertfordshire, during the pandemic. He was seeking a life of sunshine and adventure with his wife Tess and their two young sons.

But the family's world was rocked when Rob was diagnosed with terminal lung in October 2022. The fit and healthy rugby player, who had never smoked, had been experiencing back pain and a persistent cough. Rob's sister Liz said he was "determined to live" and hoped to walk one of his sons to school for the first time in early 2024.

Relatives urged him to return to the UK so they could support the family, but Liz recalled: "He said that whatever time he had left, he wanted to spend it in Australia - go to the beach, be in the sun with his wife and children.

"That's what he did. He went fishing, he went hiking, and made memories with his wife and kids."

By May 2023, Rob's health was rapidly deteriorating. He made the decision to apply for voluntary assisted dying, which had been legalised in the state that year.

"His hospital visits became more frequent, stays longer, and he started moving forward with the assisted dying process," Liz said.

"It's important to say that even though he was moving forward with this process, he was still looking for [treatment] trials - he wanted to live."

During his final hospital stay, Rob underwent aggressive interventions to have fluid drained and stop blood clots. He received "fantastic" palliative care but even the maximum permitted doses of medication could not relieve his pain.

Liz remembers her brother becoming afraid. She said: "He said it himself, he wasn't afraid of death but he was afraid of dying in an undignified and painful way, or of his pain becoming relentless and unbearable, drowning in whatever was building up in his lungs.

"I think it was a massive comfort for him, knowing that he would be able to have that control at the end and die on his own terms."

In August that year, Rob moved to a hospice and Liz flew over with her parents. On their final day together, the family sat outside in the sun, drank champagne and listened to a song chosen by Rob - Bob Dylan's Girl From the North Country.

The life-ending medication was administered by a healthcare professional on August 21, 2023, four days before his 40th birthday.

Liz added: "The day before he died, our mum asked if he was sure. She wasn't unsupportive of his choice, but she was his mum and she didn't want him to ever die.

"He said: 'This isn't living. I'm just waiting to die.' And so that's what he chose.

"For our family and for him, it felt absolutely like the right thing to do. You always look back on these things and think, I would've done this differently.

"But we weren't left with this big, open-ended shock in the way some people are. We got to just be together, we all got to be there."

In the hours after saying goodbye to her brother, Liz realised how different his end of life experience might have been, had he still been living in the UK.

She said: "I was so shocked, thinking 'How bad could this have been? How long would he have had to go on? What would his kids have had to watch? And then what memories would they have?' That night, I remember writing to my MP."

Liz now campaigns with Dignity in Dying to legalise assisted dying in the UK. Her parents and Tess have also joined rallies outside Parliament.

Queensland's assisted dying law is similar to that proposed in the UK but has slightly wider eligibility, with patients required to have a prognosis of less than one year.

Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - which is supported by the Express crusade - limits eligibility to those in the last six months of life.

Liz, who has shared her story at meetings with MPs as they consider the landmark legislation, added: "I just see how it made a big difference to our family, and felt absolutely right.

"The stories I hear from people, it just feels like such a compassionate thing to do. What happened to our family was a terrible tragedy, but none of us looked back on the day he died as something really traumatic.

"If Rob's story can help other people, that's something to be really proud of."