A 65-year-old woman from Chichester and her 25-year-old son were arrested recently on suspicion of arranging a trip to Zurich for the woman’s 71-year-old husband.

Dignitas clinic in Zurich

Are British police getting tough on assisted suicide? Although assistance is an offence punishable with up to 14 years in jail, no one accompanying a potential client of the Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas has ever been arrested. But a 65-year-old woman from Chichester and her 25-year-old son were arrested recently on suspicion of arranging a trip to Zurich for the woman’s 71-year-old husband.

Police said that the man was “vulnerable” – which may mean that he is suffering from dementia.

Dignitas caters for foreigners who want to die and about 150 Britons have made use of its services since 1998. The Director of Public Prosecutions has indicated that if the assistance is “wholly motivated by compassion” prosecution is unlikely. 

Michael Cook
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assisted suicide
Dignitas
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