Overview

• Emma Bray entered a Devon hospice and voluntarily stopped eating and drinking after a two-year battle with motor neurone disease to spare her teenage children from witnessing a brutal decline.
• In her final Instagram post published on July 15, Bray expressed gratitude for her life and urged followers to plant trees, perform random acts of kindness and hold loved ones close.
• Under current English law, voluntarily stopping eating and drinking is the sole legal option for mentally competent terminally ill adults to control the timing of their death, a process that can take 10 to 14 days.
• Bray had actively supported the Assisted Dying Bill, arguing it would have provided legal clarity and spared her family prolonged anticipatory grief.
• Her death has intensified pressure from Dignity in Dying and other advocates for MPs to pass legislation expanding end-of-life autonomy.