Dr Peter Saunders discusses the morality of assisted suicide

Gill Pharaoh’s decision to attend suicide clinic defended
BBC News 3 August 2015
Gill Pharaoh, 75, was apparently healthy when she made the decision to go to the Lifecircle clinic in Basel.

Campaigners against assisted dying have described the case as “chilling”.

But her partner John Southall told the BBC: “Choosing the time you die is a human right.”

Ms Pharaoh wrote in a blog published by the Sunday Times: “I feel my life is complete and I am ready to die.”

She said while she was largely healthy, an attack of shingles five years ago and tinnitus had made it difficult to take part in the activities she had once enjoyed.

She wrote: “I am not just whinging. Neither am I depressed. Day by day I am enjoying my life.

“I simply do not want to follow this natural deterioration through to the last stage when I may be requiring a lot of help.”

‘Deeply troubling’
Care Not Killing, a group which campaigns against assisted dying, condemned Ms Pharaoh’s case as “deeply troubling”.

A spokesman said: “It sends out a chilling message about how society values and looks after elderly people in the UK.

“It seeks the introduction of death on demand for those who fear becoming a burden, even if they are otherwise fit and healthy.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-33759490