Julie James: why my son had the right to die | The Swiss suicide clinic | David Hands: Increased risk of injury for amateurs

The parents of a young rugby player who travelled to a Swiss clinic to kill himself after he was paralysed in a training accident said he was living “a second-class existence”.

Daniel James, 23, who played for England schoolboys had travelled to a euthanasia clinic last month with his parents, Mark and Julie.

The student was left paralysed from the chest down after his spine was dislocated when a scrum collapsed during training with Nuneaton Rugby Club in March 2007.

But his condition is not believed to have been terminal and he is reported to have made some progress in regaining use of his fingers.

Mr and Mrs James said yesterday that their son had tried “several” times to kill himself before he “gained his wish”. They described their son as “an intelligent young man of sound mind” who was “not prepared to live what he felt was a second-class existence”.

Daniel had several operations and spent eight months rehabilitating in hospital before returning to his parents’ £600,000 home in Sinton Green, near Worcester. He died at the Dignitas clinic on September 12.

His parents, who run a stud farm, have been interviewed by detectives who are preparing a file of evidence for consideration by prosecutors.

Mrs James has defended her decision to help her son die, explaining: “He couldn’t walk, had no hand function, but constant pain in all of his fingers. He was incontinent, suffered uncontrollable spasms in his legs and upper body and needed twenty four hour care.”

In an e-mail response earlier this month to a newspaper article about a right-to-die test case she wrote: “Dan had tried to commit suicide three times but this was unsuccessful due to his disability, his only other option was to starve himself.”

Mrs James also condemned a social services employee who had informed police of what was happening while they were at the Dignitas clinic.

“This person had never met Dan before or after his accident and obviously gave no consideration for our younger daughters who had seen their big brother suffer so much, and the day before had to say goodbye to him,” wrote Mrs James.

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