MORE BRITONS BECOME SUICIDE TOURISTS
Euthanasia campaigners in the UK are commemorating the fifth anniversary of the death of Diane Pretty. She suffered from motor neurone disease and in 2002 died after losing a long legal battle to seek immunity from prosecution for her husband so that he could help her commit suicide.
To mark the occasion, activists released figures about an increase in the number of Britons who are travelling to Switzerland to seek out a suicide clinic in Zurich run by the group Dignitas. In all 76 have died there. About 14 a year made the trip in 2003, 2004 and 2005, but the figure rose to more than 30 in 2006.
Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.
Latest posts by Michael Cook (see all)
- How long can you put off seeing the doctor because of lockdowns? - December 3, 2021
- House of Lords debates assisted suicide—again - October 28, 2021
- Spanish government tries to restrict conscientious objection - October 28, 2021
More Stories
War and peace: Israeli physicians treating Palestinian patients
In the midst of the bitter war between Hamas and the Israeli Defense Forces in Gaza, there is a ray...
Court rules ‘voluntary assisted dying’ is suicide
Such is the stigma surrounding suicide that advocates of “voluntary assisted dying” insist vehemently that it is by no means...
Is poverty a cause of the rise of trans identity in the UK?
UK rates of transgender identity have risen at least 5-fold since 2000, with the highest rise observed among 16 to...
Donor anonymity becomes a battleground in the US
Donor-conceived Americans who want the federal government to abolish donor anonymity are getting pushback from the LGBTQI+ lobby. On the...
Should there be a ‘dead donor rule’ for sperm donation?
Sperm donation creates a web of exceedingly complex relationships. The HeyReprotech Newsletter (a great Substack resource for news about assisted...
The oldest mother in Africa is single and broke
A 70-year-old Ugandan woman has given birth to twins after receiving IVF treatment. Safina Namukwaya delivered a boy and a...