By Colin Campbell

This week got off to a very bad start.

Presumably Highland Council housing department thought my housing application was not important. My declared intended legally voluntary assisted suicide in Switzerland on June 15 2017 probably meant for them there was little purpose in progressing my application. I live in a second floor flat and suffer from MS. I need ground floor accommodation.

The council did, though, offer me the obligatory House of multiple occupancy (HMO) accommodation - shared accommodation - rather than ignore my request.

I phoned Highland Council and spoke with Gail (I have changed her name to protect her identity) in housing. She said she had not been comfortable with her colleague offering me three months in an HMO. Frequently, some HMOs are occupied by unfortunates with alcohol and or drug problems - and other regulars are those in the ‘revolving door’ of “in the jail, out the jail.”

Gail said housing are now trying to find me suitable ground floor housing outwith Inverness where the demand for all types of social housing exceeds the supply.

Fast approaching is the Thursday June 8 General Election - my last vote.

That gives the chance to find out candidates’ views on legalising voluntary assisted suicide in Scotland.

Ageing, illness and death are unfortunately not optional which makes this diary of relevance to readers of all ages.

One of the most important human rights, denied in Britain, is legalised voluntary assisted suicide.

My experience of dealing with Swiss doctors ensures the six stage application process guarantees that vulnerable or elderly people have nothing to fear.

And the 15 year prison term awarded at Nottingham Crown court on this week to surgeon Ian Paterson reminds us that there is always going to be an element of risk from even routine encounters with medical professionals.

Surveys regularly show the majority of the electorate in Britain favour ‘right to die’ legislation.

That makes it time for the Department of Work and Pensions to overrule the BMA’s resistance to right to die legislation on grounds of fiscal irresponsibility. There are many including myself who would choose voluntary assisted suicide in Scotland or England rather than become increasingly ill and permanently dependent on state benefits - benefits I will require for possibly many years if I cannot get to Switzerland.

The savings for taxpayers would be millions if I was able to choose legalised voluntary assisted suicide in Scotland.

I am though happy to state my respect for the minority of people whose peaceful religious beliefs make them opposed to voluntary assisted suicide.

It has been suggested to me that I should not end my life in Switzerland without first trying stem cell treatment - but that treatment will require me to be able to rehabilitate in ground floor accommodation.

Fortunately I have been contacted by housing groups outwith the Highland Council area. They have read my diary in the Sunday Herald and have assured me they will be able to find suitable secure ground floor accommodation for me.

It raises the question - how can a seemingly medically unqualified person at Highland Council housing department be considered competent to decide that HMO accommodation is appropriate for someone like me who is suffering from a traumatic disabling disease like primary progressive multiple sclerosis?

NHS Highland has recommended that I require the following: re-housing to a ground floor property, which is wheelchair accessible, with level access and wet room.

An awareness of mental health issues will realise that once a person has decided on voluntary assisted suicide an HMO for someone, in my case with zimmer-frame dependence, is going to be worse than going to Switzerland for voluntary assisted suicide.

For me Highland Council housing department are making voluntary assisted suicide appealing.

A timely reminder that the under 40s in the Highlands have a suicide rate well above the national average.

And so June 15 in Switzerland has to remain an option for me.

I jokingly suggest it will be ‘high fives’ at the Highland Council housing department to know I am on the Switzerland via Gatwick flight.

There does though remain the issue of getting me to the airport on June 13.

Although ‘not in the public interest’ to prosecute, it will technically be illegal to take me to the airport. Assisting a suicide could potentially be the charge against the taxi driver. The coming week presents many unresolved issues for me.

Do I continue to risk negotiating the stairs in my flat or is a suitable ground floor accommodation offer going to be made?

Will my application for stem cell treatment be approved once I am able to confirm I can safely recuperate in ground floor accommodation?

Will former Metropolitan police sergeant and fellow MS sufferer Rona Tynan along with her husband have commenced a successful ‘crowd funding’ process for both of us?

And hopefully the new Scottish Parliament will this time legislate for legalised voluntary assisted suicide. Similarly the NHS will have had sufficient time to decide on routinely offering stem cell treatment for multiple sclerosis sufferers. And if not there is the promise of the new drug Ocrelizumab - already available in America, and which in trials has shown to be effective in treating all three forms of multiple sclerosis.