A British couple, suffering from terminal cancer, have ended their lives together at a clinic in Switzerland where voluntary euthanasia is legal, according to their daughter.
A British couple, suffering from terminal cancer, have ended their lives together at a clinic in Switzerland where voluntary euthanasia is legal, according to their daughter.
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Helena Conibear has said that her parents had done a "beautiful and remarkable thing" after 80-year-old Peter Duff and his 70-year-old wife Penny committed suicide together at Dignitas clinic in Zurich.
Duff, a retired wine consultant as well as co-founder of Wine Guild of Great Britain, and his spouse -- both from Bath -- are believed to have been helped to end their lives last Friday with overdose of barbiturates, the British media reported today.
"It is an amazing story, but because of the legal issues involved we are unable to discuss it at this stage," Conibear was quoted as saying. However, she has declined to say whether any members of the family accompanied her parents to Zurich as under Swiss law anyone who assists a suicide faces questioning to ensure no crime has been committed.
In the UK, assisting a suicide remains a crime punishable by up to 14 years in jail. In fact, the couple's suicide came after Britain's Chief Justice had signalled that anyone "helping" a terminally ill person to organise an assisted suicide abroad would not be prosecuted in the country.
Medical authorities in Switzerland are yet to issue death certificates for the couple and the family have not yet notified the authorities of their deaths, according to the Bath coroner.
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