Pauline Moroney lies dying in a hospital bed, pumped full of strong painkillers, unable to eat and too weak to stand.

The effect of the medication she’s on leaves her drowsy, but she remains aware enough to press a button every time incontinence overcomes her and she needs to alert a nurse.

Ten days before, she was told she had advanced terminal cancer and there was nothing more doctors could do but make her final days comfortable.

It was upon hearing this news that 81-year-old Pauline believed she should have been given the option to legally end her life, on her terms, to spare her what she said was the indignity of palliative care.

But the current law in England on assisted dying does not allow for such a choice.

Four days after we met, Pauline would take her last breath in the very same room at Margate’s QEQM Hospital, as her husband of 59 years, Mike, anxiously awaited the news he had been dreading.

But it was not the end either of them had wanted: the chance to say goodbye with Pauline’s mind clear and her body free of the increasing pain that doctors had attempted to keep at bay as death approached.

Mike, a retired engineer from Chestfield, near Whitstable, made clear his thoughts when I visited the couple in hospital last Tuesday, doing most of the speaking as his beloved wife nodded in approval between violent bouts of coughing.

“Needless suffering is taking away any dignity in Pauline’s final days,” the 84-year-old said.

“Because she can’t stomach much, she’s essentially starving to death.

“She's become weak on her legs so the doctor has put her to bed and that's all very well, but it’s degrading.

“When she goes to the toilet she has to press the bell, the nurses have to come in, change her, and it is an unnecessary state of affairs.

“If you haven't got some form of control over your life, then what have you got? It's a basic human right.

“If a person knows they're going to die, then why hold off on the inevitable?

“We're told that human rights is all about our own rights, about our own selves really, much more than anything, and this is a basic human right refusal.”

Assisted dying - more often referred to as assisted suicide or euthanasia by those who oppose it - is a topic Mike is used to talking about.

For years he was a campaigner for the east Kent branch of Dignity in Dying - a group lobbying to change the law for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.

By his side in those efforts was retired medical secretary Pauline, herself a fierce advocate for dying people to have control over the manner and timing of their death.

The pair, who have two children, have long-believed assisted dying should be legalised in England, as it is in many other countries, including the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada and some parts of the US and Australia.

For Pauline, given the speed at which her illness developed, there was no time to consider visiting the Swiss clinic Dignitas, where many Brits travel to end their life legally.

Mike is clear that such an option should be available in the UK, with Pauline’s death on Saturday morning strengthening his resolve to continue pushing for change.

“I think all of the systems have got a little bit of weakness to them, but I believe in the human right that everybody has over their lives,” he said.

“My gripe is entirely with the law and the ludicrous position that it puts so many people in, when the law of our country should be helping them and not searching them out – it's archaic.

“We should have a situation here, whereby you make the statement legally, whatever witnesses it needs, that you wish to die, and then that should be made available to you properly, medically and sensibly.

“Your loved one can sit beside you, hold your hand, sing a hymn, goodness knows what.

“But for heaven's sake, let's be civilised about it, and stop pussyfooting around, calling it palliative care.

“I firmly believe palliative care is actually prolonged cruelty.

“Pauline was confused, she was scared and she just wanted to die, and I couldn’t help her in the way we both wanted.

“An awful lot of people are being made, in my view, to suffer unnecessary periods in their life which are not dignified.”

The topic of assisted dying is as controversial as it always has been, sparking widespread debate centred largely on morality and ethics.

Journalist and TV presenter Dame Esther Rantzen has brought it to the fore in recent months, spearheading a petition signed by 200,000 people calling for dying people to be able to ask for medical assistance to end their lives.

The 83-year-old, who has terminal lung cancer and has signed up to Dignitas, says a change in the law would mean she “could look forward in confidence to a death which is pain-free surrounded by people I love".

The day before I visited Pauline in hospital, Dame Esther’s petition - and the wider issue of assisted dying - was debated in parliament, although no law change is yet on the cards.

MPs last voted on the matter in 2015, when a bill was introduced by Labour’s Rob Marris that would have allowed doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of drugs to people with fewer than six months to live, which they would have to take themselves.

It was defeated by 330 votes to 118.

A similar bill on the Isle of Man passed a second reading vote in October and was this week being further scrutinised. Its adoption would likely pave the way for fresh legislation to be voted on in Westminster.

Among those who say they could lend their support to a change in the law is Conservative MP Craig Mackinlay, who represents South Thanet.

“All cases are unique and we have all witnessed friends and family reaching the end of their lives and lived through the distress that this causes,” he said.

“I believe there is a case to be made for competent adults who are terminally ill, and make a clearly given request, to have specified assistance to end their own life."

“Any new law would need to be carefully and sensitively drafted and if these hurdles could be overcome, with appropriate safeguards, I could support an Assisted Dying Bill.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “committed” to allowing a vote on legalising assisted dying should his party win the general election.

Assisted suicide is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.

Since 2009, 187 cases of encouraging or assisting suicide have been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service, with 87% not proceeded with or withdrawn by police.

Just four cases have been successfully prosecuted.

Campaign group Care Not Killing is against any law change, arguing the focus should be on “promoting more and better palliative care”.

It says legalising assisted dying could “place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial, emotional or care burden upon others” and argues those who are disabled, elderly, sick or depressed could be especially at risk.

But Mike says the current system robs the terminally ill of the chance to die on their own terms.

“It's cruel and heartless, and I don't understand why it shouldn’t be taken seriously,” he said.

“It should be acted upon properly by government.

“A lot of people are dying in a way they don't want to. It's distressing for themselves and it's distressing for their loved ones, for their family.

“We all die sometime. Wouldn't it be better to be in control of that situation, especially when you're defined as being terminally ill and you've had a good life.

“How much happier we would have been if it were possible to end our lives in a sensible civilised and humane way and not the prolonged, distressing and cruel way that Pauline ended her days.

“This country should be ashamed.”