A retired British art teacher has had herself euthanased in Switzerland, citing weariness of the modern world as her reason for suicide.

A retired British art teacher has had herself euthanased in Switzerland, citing weariness of the modern world. The woman, asking to be identified only by her Christian name Anne, made use of the assisted suicide service offered by Dignitas, in Zurich, after deciding that it was futile to “struggle against the current” of modern life.

Anne was gravely concerned about the commercialisation and dehumanisation of society. She felt that computers and social media had taken humanity out of our interactions, and was appalled at comfort-seeking short-cuts that people took in modern life. In an interview with the Sunday Times shortly before her death, Anne said:

“They say adapt or die. At my age, I feel that I can’t adapt, because the new age is not an age that I grew up to understand. I see everything as cutting corners. All the old-fashioned ways of doing things have gone.”

She was also anxious about overcrowding and pollution in cities.

Anne’s application to Dignitas was overseen by de-registered doctor Michael Irwin, the founder of the Society for Old Age Rational Suicide (Soars). 

Xavier Symons
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Creative commons
Dignitas
end of life
euthanasia
existential suffering

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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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