Couple's suicide sparks new right-to-die debate

THE debate over euthanasia and assisted suicide was reignited yesterday following the deaths of a renowned British conductor and his wife at a Swiss clinic.

Sir Edward Downes, 85, who was losing his sight and hearing, died on Friday alongside his terminally ill wife, Joan, 74, after travelling to the Dignitas clinic.

In a statement, their family said the couple "died peacefully, and under circumstances of their own choosing".

Police said they were investigating, and campaigners called for more safeguards to be put in place.

Critics claimed the deaths were a new departure for Dignitas, and said it had previously refused to allow physician-assisted suicide among patients who were not terminally ill.

Although Sir Edward was said by relatives to be almost blind and increasingly deaf, there was no suggestion he suffered from a life-threatening condition.

Read Dr Libby Wilson's analysis of the story here

A statement, released by his son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca, said their parents had died after a struggle with serious health problems.

They said: "Our father, who was 85 years old, almost blind and increasingly deaf, had a long, vigorous and distinguished career as a conductor. Our mother, who was 74, started her career as a ballet dancer and subsequently worked as a choreographer and TV producer, before dedicating the last years of her life to working as our father's personal assistant.

"After 54 happy years together, they decided to end their own lives rather than continue to struggle with serious health problems."

John Deighan, parliamentary officer for the Catholic Church in Scotland, said it was disturbing the "assisted suicide pool" was widening to include patients in reasonably good health.

"Whenever you see them introduce killing … the pool widens. It goes from those that are terminally ill to those who are not. It happened in Holland and Belgium. Once you identify someone's right to die, the criteria starts to change," he said.

Suicide is no longer a crime in Britain, but aiding and abetting suicide is punishable by up to 14 years in prison in England and Wales. In Scotland, it could be prosecuted under common law as culpable homicide.

Calls for a change in the law have been marked by high-profile legal campaigns and a stream of publicity about UK citizens who have travelled to Dignitas, in Zurich, to die.

Founded in 1998 by Swiss lawyer Ludwig Minelli, Dignitas takes advantage of the country's liberal laws on assisted suicide that suggest a person can be prosecuted only if they are acting out of self interest.

More than 100 UK citizens have died in Dignitas clinics, and nearly 800 have become Dignitas members – the first step for those considering assisted suicide.

Margo MacDonald, MSP, who has Parkinson's disease and has launched a campaign to make assisted suicide legal in Scotland, said current legislation was out of step with public opinion.

"This is a case that will make people think perhaps more deeply than they had so before," she said. "I think there is a growth in the number of people who share the private morality demonstrated by this husband and wife, who have concluded they didn't want to carry on in a life apart from each other.

"They believed they had the right to determine that."

Ms MacDonald believes that, with an ever-ageing population, the issue of euthanasia will be a growing one.

"It was always certain that these issues would be thrown up because people are living longer, but not necessarily living happily," she said.

The issue of assisted suicide hit the headlines in 2002 when terminally ill Diane Pretty, 43, launched a legal attempt to have her husband be allowed to help her take her life without fear of prosecution.

She died at a hospice in May that year, shortly after losing her case in the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2006, an Assisted Dying Bill, brought by retired human rights lawyer Joel Joffe, was rejected in the House of Lords. Then last week, peers rejected a proposal to allow people to help someone with a terminal illness travel to a country where assisted suicide is legal.

Although a handful of people have been arrested, no relative or friend of the more than 100 UK citizens who have gone abroad to Dignitas clinics has been prosecuted.

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of campaign group Dignity in Dying, said: "Sir Edward Downes and Lady Joan Downes add their names to the ever-growing list of Britons who have travelled abroad to die.

"This problem is clearly not going to go away; we are descending down a slippery slope towards unregulated assisted dying abroad, at a rapid pace."

Earlier this month, the British Medical Association's annual conference overwhelmingly rejected a motion "allowing the choice of an assisted death by patients who are terminally ill and who have mental capacity".

Sir Edward was born in Birmingham in 1924 began playing the violin at the age of five. He later became a world-famous conductor and established a 40-year relationship with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

He was honoured by four music colleges and five universities, became a CBE in 1986 and was knighted in 1991.

Elaine Padmore, director of opera at the Royal Opera in London, said colleagues were "deeply indebted" for his outstanding contribution to music.

BACKGROUND

THE Swiss charity Dignitas has gained a worldwide reputation for assisting people with terminal illness to end their lives.

Founded in 1998 by Swiss lawyer Ludwig Minelli, the non-profit organisation has the motto: "Live with dignity, die with dignity". It has helped the suicide of hundreds of people – including more than 100 from the UK.

It takes advantage of Switzerland's liberal laws on assisted suicide, which suggest that a person can be prosecuted only if they act out of self-interest. Dignitas interprets that to mean anyone who assists suicide altruistically cannot be punished.

None of the UK cases handled by Dignitas has involved criminal charges, but many have resulted in police investigations

The clinic's specialist staff work as volunteers. It is said they engage in detailed discussion to establish that the case falls within the legal parameters and it is the patient's clear will to die.

The patient travels to Zurich, where he or she is taken to a Dignitas flat and given an anti-sickness drug 30 minutes before a lethal dose of barbiturate.

A camera records the patient taking the drug – firm evidence that it was not administered by staff.

Within five minutes, they lapse into a coma, and the heart stops soon after.