Suicide tourists

last updated 8 January 2015

Zurich

A British couple this week joined the growing list of people to kill themselves at an assisted-suicide clinic, even though they were not terminally ill. Robert and Jennifer Stokes, ages 60 and 53, were both wheelchair-bound; he was suffering from epilepsy, and she from diabetes. They saw a doctor at the Dignitas clinic who provided them with phenobarbital and instructions on how to take it. Since the clinic, which is specifically aimed at helping foreigners end their lives, opened in 1998, more than 100 people have died there. That makes some Swiss officials uneasy. “Suicide is not something Switzerland wants to be known for,” said Zurich justice official Andreas Brunner.