A 63-year-old South African woman ended her life last week in an assisted suicide at a clinic in Switzerland, after an eight-year battle to persuade the KwaZulu-Natal High Court (Pietermaritzburg) that she lost her leg due to medical negligence.
Carol de Swardt travelled from George – where she had lived for the past three years – to Pegasos Clinic in Basel – where she legally ended her life, assisted by Professor Sean Davison, who oversees the Exit Swiss Assistance Programme.
The Citizen reports that the New Zealand-born South African scientist is the founder and director of DignitySA that is lobbying for a change to end-of-life legislation in South Africa.
De Swardt, formerly an avid swimmer, fisher and gardener, lost the will to live after her right leg was amputated and she was confined to a wheelchair, in debilitating pain from skin cancer that was diagnosed in 2010 and which subsequently spread.
For eight years she fought a courageous legal battle – and was ultimately successful – in her bid to persuade the court in 2020 that the loss of her leg was due to medical negligence.
Radiation
The court found that after being diagnosed with squamous carcinoma, a common skin cancer, on both legs, Carol was given excessive doses of radiation at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. This resulted in “irreversible damage” to her lower limbs.
The court also ordered the KZN Health Department to pay her more than R4m in damages, some of which she used to pay for her assisted death.
De Swardt, who said there was no reason for her to live anymore because she had no quality of life, said her son and daughter had accepted her decision.
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