Hugh Grant: campaigner 'was right on assisted dying'

Hugh Grant has said he agrees with the assisted suicide campaigner Dr Ann McPherson, who died last week, on giving people the right to die.

The actor, who is patron of healthtalkonline.org, a website and charity founded by Dr McPherson, told The Independent: "She's right on assisted dying. That seems to me like the dignified option. I don't know quite what she wanted in her last few weeks, but she was a great champion of the right to die in a dignified manner, which it seems she did."

He added: "If you are around someone who you love, who says they want to die, and they say enough's enough, you would look on that with great sympathy. A person who is compos mentis should be allowed to die rather than be kept alive and in pain, and without having to go off to Switzerland."

Grant was persuaded to become one of the charity's patrons after his mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he and his brother were unable to find accurate information online – which is what Dr McPherson's website sought to provide. "She [Dr McPherson] was relentless," he said. "I was dilly-dallying about it, but then she played her trump card and said 'I've got pancreatic cancer'. I could hardly say no. She was a tremendous force for good."

Grant has also become a patron for her campaign group, Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying.