THE family of an Oxford right-to-die campaigner have backed a call for a change in the law to allow assisted suicide.

Relatives of GP Ann McPherson, who died in May last year from pancreatic cancer, said it was “cruel” to allow terminally-ill people to suffer.

And they released a passage written by Dr McPherson in her final days in which she said she was “furious” that she could not choose to die.

The mother-of-three, who worked in North Oxford for more than 35 years, had long campaigned for terminally-ill people to be given the right to die.

The Commission on Assisted Dying, chaired by former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer, proposed that those with less than a year to live could be helped to end their lives.

Two doctors must be satisfied with the diagnosis and the patient must be aware of all the social and medical help available, it said in its recommendations.

They should also be satisfied the patient was making the decision voluntarily and not because they felt they were a burden.

In a statement, Dr McPherson’s family said: “We welcome the findings and support the recommendation that there should be a change in the law.

“As we watched our mother suffer in her final days and weeks we felt very strongly that it was nothing short of cruel that we were helpless to bring that suffering to an end – as we knew she so desperately wanted.”

Her life had “become unacceptable” and she was “constantly uncomfortable, unable to eat, get out of bed or enjoy seeing even those she loved”.

The 65-year-old founded Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying and was a patron of campaign group Dignity in Dying.

The passage written by Dr McPherson said: “I’m feeling pretty bloody awful.

“I can’t understand why I have to carry on living like this, why I can’t just die.

“It is nice to see people, but if I had the choice there is no question I would prefer to be dead, because I feel so ill. I feel really furious about this and I think it cruel.

“In my practice I saw people who felt like this and I felt I had let them down.”

The commission was part-funded by author Sir Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer’s disease and supports assisted suicide.

Dr Peter Saunders, of Care Not Killing, which opposes a change in the law, called the report “seriously flawed”.

He said: “These recommendations, if implemented, will place vulnerable people under increased pressure to end their lives, so as not to be a burden on others.”