Together For Ever

The name given to a suicide pact between a couple – often where one is terminally or chronically ill.

The death of a British composer, and his terminally ill wife, at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland has prompted concern in the U.K. that more couples will enter into suicide pacts, David Brown and Helen Nugentreported for The Times of London:

Sir Edward Downes travelled to the Dignitas clinic with his wife Joan, 74, last week, after she was told that she had terminal cancer. They were accompanied by their son and daughter, Caractacus and Boudicca. Sir Edward, 85, was frail but not dying. Police are investigating and will pass a file of evidence to prosecutors.

Campaigners and church leaders renewed their opposition to legalising assisted dying amid fears that elderly couples were being inspired to make “together for ever” suicide pacts.

Alastair Thompson, of the Care Not Killing alliance, said that the deaths risked “lowering the moral bar.” He said: “It says if you are old and frail and feeling a bit rough then it is OK to be euthanized. It makes death a lifestyle choice and places an intolerable burden on husbands and wives who could feel pressured into euthanizing themselves alongside their partners even though they are not unwell.”

Following the couple’s deaths, their children released a statement announcing that their parents had “died peacefully and under circumstances of their own choosing, with the help of the Swiss organisation Dignitas.”

Helping someone to commit suicide is illegal in Britain. According to The Times, 117 Britons have traveled to the clinic in Switzerland to end their lives: so far, none of the family members or friends who have accompanied them there have been charged with an offense by the British police.