Unable to cope with modern world, British woman ends life

Speaking in an interview before her death and asking only to be identified as Anne, the former art teacher and Royal Navy engineer said she had had enough of "swimming against the current" of the world.

Listen to Story

Advertisement
Unable to cope with modern world, British woman ends life
For representation only. (Reuters)

An 89-year-old British woman has killed herself at an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, in part because she had become fed up with the modern world of emails, TVs, computers and supermarket ready-to-eat meals, The Independent reported Sunday.

Speaking in an interview before her death and asking only to be identified as Anne, the former art teacher and Royal Navy engineer said she had had enough of "swimming against the current" of the world.

advertisement

In her application to Dignitas, a Swiss group that helps those with terminal illness and severe physical and mental illnesses to die assisted by qualified doctors and nurses, she reportedly described her life as "full, with so many adventures and tremendous independence", but had recently found her strength and health fading and feared the prospect of a prolonged period in hospital or a nursing home.

Anne, from Sussex, was neither terminally ill nor seriously handicapped when she died, and beforehand spoke out in favour of people having the right to die in the UK.

Anne killed herself on March 27. Just the day before David Cameron said he would oppose the relaxing of assisted suicide laws in Britain on the grounds that people could feel "unfairly pressurised" into ending their lives. Assisted suicide remains a criminal offence in England and Wales, technically punishable by up to 14 years in prison.