Gill Pharaoh, 75, was not suffering from a terminal disease or depression – but was determined not to become a burden to her family or the NHS. The two of them had spoken for years about it and were on the same page.

In a July blog post, Ms. Pharaoh said her decision was partly based on her experiences in the palliative care system and the things she had seen in that role.

“Until I was seventy I was very fit and able to fully participate in any activity I wanted to do”.

“I often felt that they were being urged to “keep fighting” when in fact they were quite ready to give up”.

‘Then I had a severe attack of Shingles and it all changed.

“At seventy five I am told I look ok and I take no medication”.

Those against the practice will likely raise fears that softening the law might encourage healthy, active people like Pharoah to end their lives prematurely, the paper reported.

Dr. Irwin, 84, a former medical director of the United Nations and ex-chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, now Dignity in Dying, said Ms. Pharaoh had spoken of feeling her life was “complete”, and suggested there were philosophical and intellectual arguments to be had around the issue.

“I am sure she would have been happy to stay around for longer”. She was not ill.

“I simply do not want to follow this natural deterioration through to the last stage when I may be requiring a lot of help”.

Gill’s children, Caron and Mark, both knew of their mother’s plans although her daughter in particular had struggled to cope with the decision.

“It is not a job you enjoy”.

A spokesman for Care Not Killing, which campaigns against assisted dying, said: “This is a deeply troubling case and sends a chilling message about how society values and looks after elderly people in the UK”. “I know that I have gone just over the hill now”, she said before going to the Lifecircle clinic in Basel, Switzerland.

“I have had to do this outside my home, and without telling too many people for the same reason”.

“And I have a number of aches and pains which restrict my pleasure in life generally although none are totally incapacitating”.

‘I have always held a donor card but that will be redundant now. I do not want people to remember me as a sort of old lady hobbling up the road with a trolley.’

She is now among the 250 Britons estimated to have used liberal Swiss assisted dying laws since 2003.

She spent her final night alive wandering through the old part of Basel, before sharing a meal on the banks of the Rhine.

John said: “The whole evening was very tranquil and enjoyable. Like all nurses, I have cared for the elderly as well as I could, but there were many occasions when I wondered why we were doing it”, she said earlier. “Gill had been thinking about it for years and I had no intention of spoiling it by getting emotional and heavy”.