British doctor commits assisted suicide in Switzerland

A British woman has committed assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Retired doctor Anne Turner, 67, who suffered from the progressive and incurable disease supranuclear palsy, died after drinking a lethal dose of barbiturates provided by the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, around 12:35 GMT.

Prior to her death, Dr Turner had called for legislation in the UK to be changed so that terminally ill patients did not have to die before they were ready, because they had to fit enough to travel abroad to commit assisted suicide.

Dr Turner was still in the relatively early stages of the disease, which also affected comedian Dudley Moore, who died in 2002. Although she could walk unaided, eat and communicate, the disease would eventually have affected her balance, speaking, swallowing and left her confined in a wheelchair or bedridden.

Those affected by progressive supranuclear palsy usually survive between six to ten years after the initial symptoms occur.

She had already tried to commit suicide last year.

Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of pro-euthanasia charity, Dignity in Dying described the case as "truly heartbreaking". She said: "The government must make time in Parliament for the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill. Only this Bill could have prevented Anne Turner from taking her life early. If this Bill had been law, Anne would not have been forced to go to Zurich whilst she was still able to travel, for help to die. She would be alive today.

"In Britain, the lack of choice for terminally ill people drives people like Anne Turner to take matters into their own hands while their illness allows them to. Our law is shortening rather than prolonging life."

Dignitas currently has 673 British members. The clinic has helped 42 British people, including Dr Turner, to die in the last three years. The first known case was Reg Crew in January 2003.

In England and Wales, assisting a suicide carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment.

It is not a crime in Switzerland, provided there are no self-serving motives.

(KMcA/SP)