UK cancer couple end their lives at Zurich clinic

Published on Thursday 5 March 2009 23:33

A DYING British couple have ended their lives together at a voluntary euthanasia clinic in Switzerland, their family said last night.

Peter and Penelope Duff, from Bath in Somerset, died at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich on 27 February. Mr Duff, 80, was suffering from colon and liver cancer and his 70-year-old wife had been suffering from a rare form of the disease Gist (gastrointestinal stromal tumour) since 1992.

A family statement said: "Peter and Penny Duff passed away peacefully together in Zurich. after a long battle against their terminal cancer. Their decision in no way reflected on the wonderful and humbling care they have received from their consultant, doctors and nurses."

Mr Duff was secretary-general of the Wine Guild of the United Kingdom from 1984 to 1989. He had been chairman of Alcohol In Moderation since March 2001.

The British anti-euthanasia campaign group Care Not Killing said the Duffs' deaths did not make a case for legalising assisted suicide. A spokesman said: "This is a desperately sad and unusual case. However, hard cases make bad law and the fact remains that if euthanasia was ever legalised in Britain, vulnerable and seriously ill people would come under pressure to end their lives prematurely."