Women 40% more likely to choose assisted suicide

A study looking at the age and gender of ‘suicide tourists’ in Switzerland found women were 40% more likely to choose assisted suicide than men.

The median age of the 611 persons in the study, which examined suicide tourism over the period 2008-2012, was 69 years, “an age at high risk of malignancy or chronic disease”, according to the study’s authors. The age range was 23-97.

Of those who availed of assisted suicide during this period, 290 (47.4%) had neurological diseases, 227 (37.2%) had cancer, 24.6% had rheumatic diseases and 15.2% had cardiovascular disease. Around one in three people had more than one condition.