Forty Britons end lives in Swiss suicide clinic

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March 13, 2005

Sunday Times
Sue Leonard, Scottish Health Correspondent



FORTY Britons, including two Scottish women, have flown to Switzerland to commit suicide.

Almost twice as many people from the United Kingdom as was previously thought have ended their lives at the clinic in Zurich.

According to voluntary euthanasia campaigners, a growing number of people are forced to commit suicide abroad because the government has refused to introduce right-to-die legislation. In Britain it is illegal to help someone commit suicide, punishable by up to 14 years in jail.

The number of people travelling to the Swiss clinic run by Dignitas, a charity that helps terminally ill people commit suicide, has been revealed by Dr Michael Irwin, the former chairman of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society (VES).

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1523431,00.html