THE end came peacefully for Madam Lim Kim Keowas she finally succumbed to  cancer. She died last week with her husband by her side.

She made the news in May when she asked the authorities to grant her a  physician-assisted suicide. No doctor had wanted to do as it was against the law.

The New Paper first reported her story on May5. Madam Lim, 56, a former teacher and mother of two, found out shehad cancer in August 2008. In April,  she became paralysed.

Over the weeks that followed, The New Paper checked up on her regularly until she became too ill to take our calls, about a month ago.

She was transferred from the Assisi Hospice to Tan Tock Seng Hospital on July 28, according to her family members.

There she stayed until she died last Wednesday.

Excellent care
Her husband of 34  ears, Mr Yan Chun Tong, said she received excellent care at  the hospital.

The 61-year-old retired oil rig engineer told The New Paper: “She was  not shivering as much and did not have as severe headaches after she was  ransferred to TTSH. The nurses there were very experienced and capable.

“She was much more comfortable.” Mr Yan and his son both did not want her to end  her life by suicide but decided to abide by her wish.

“I had no problem taking care of her even if she was bed-ridden. I had no wish for  er to end her life prematurely. As it was, I was with her till the very end,”  he said.

But his wife, by all accounts a stubborn woman, was seton the idea.

At one point, she stopped all food intake. But she continued to drink water  whenever she took her pain medicine.

Her son Mr Marcus Yan, 31, a business consultant, said he gave his “agreement”   for two reasons. “One, because I didn’t think she would succeed in her quest. It is  against the law,” he said.

The other was that, ironically, the quest itself gave MadamLim a greater sense of  purpose and a will to get going every day.

He told his mother he wanted her to fight to the very end.

The medical director at Assisi Hospice, Dr Tan Yew Seng, said patients like Madam  Lim, who request for physician-assisted suicide, may be distressed and may not be mentally stable.

Said Dr Tan: “The circumstances surrounding assisted suicides may not be very  comfortable. That is, sometimes, it involves starving and harming the patient.

“It can also involve taking medications. These are all painful methods of dying.”

He added that, on the other hand, palliative care is better as it directly responds to the needs of the patients and their families. 

Dover Park Hospice’s medical director, Dr Angel Lee, said society in general should look towards helping those like Madam Lim find meaning in the suffering they  experience.

She said: “Many people who wish for euthanasia actually wish for some measure of control over the course of life’s events, in this case, their own death.

For some, it is an escape from a painful world.

“Helping people find meaning through the suffering they experience and helping them find relief from their distress are not insurmountable challenges.

“Humanity should work on this rather than just look down the euthanasia path.”

Dr Cynthia Goh, centre director of Lien Centre for Palliative Care, said what was  interesting is that Madam Lim’s fight to end her life gave her the will to live.

Said Dr Goh: “She really came alive and suddenly found meaning in her life through the cause she was fighting for.”

This article was first published in The New Paper.