Seventy-six Britons have now gone to Dignitas for an assisted death (8th May 2007)

8th May 2007

Seventy-six Britons have now gone to Dignitas for an assisted death

It has emerged that seventy-six Britons have now gone to Dignitas in Switzerland for an assisted death.

This means that 34 Britons have had assisted deaths at the Swiss organisation since Dr Anne Turner publicly chose to end her life there in January 2006. The figures show a sharp rise in the number of terminally ill Britons choosing to die overseas. Between January 2003 and 2006, 42 British people had assisted deaths at Dignitas.

Commenting on the figures, Dignity in Dying Chief Executive Deborah Annetts said:

“These are shocking figures – but they represent an even more shocking fact – that more and more British terminally ill people are so desperate for a release from their suffering that they will make the traumatic journey to a strange country so that they can be assisted to die.

With the numbers rising every year, we have to ask – is our Government content to let this continue? We need a change in the law so that rather than spending their last days going through a difficult journey, and worrying about the consequences for any loved ones who accompany them, terminally ill people have the choice of a safe, dignified, medically assisted death here in the UK.”

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