From the BBC News and New York Times:

The deaths of noted British conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, have reopened  an international debate about assisted suicide for the terminally ill. The pair drank a lethal cocktail of barbituates at the Swiss right-to-die clinic, Dignitas.

Friends said that Sir Edward, 85, was not known to be terminally ill but he wanted to die with his wife, who was said to have had terminal cancer. Sir Edward was principal conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 1980 to 1991, and had led performances at Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London for more than 50 years. He was described by his children as “almost blind and increasingly deaf.”

The House of Lords last week defeated a bill that would have allowed people to travel abroad to help people with terminal illness commit suicide. Attempting suicide has not been a criminal offense in Britain since 1961, but assisting others to kill themselves is.

“With imminent health cuts, growing numbers of elderly people and increasing levels of elder abuse the very last thing we need is to put vulnerable people, many of whom already think they are a financial or emotional burden to relatives, carers and the state, under pressure to end their lives through a change in the law,” said Peter Saunders, an official with the group Care Not Killing.

See also:

‘I’m bossy. I’m ambitious. I love ideas. And I love life’ — Guardian

Baroness Campbell: Believe me, I absolutely love my life — Telegraph

Disabled peer pleads against legalizing assisted suicide — Guardian

Earlier posts here.

(Photo from the New York Times)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 9:53 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, assisted suicide, blindness/visual impairments, cancer, chronic illness, deaf/hard of hearing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post