A 104-year-old Australian scientist killed himself in Switzerland on Thursday by lethal injection in an assisted suicide he hoped would trigger more lenient euthanasia laws in his home country.
British-born David Goodall, who was not terminally ill, personally triggered a lethal dose of a barbiturate and died at a clinic near Basel, the assisted suicide group Exit International said.
Goodall, a member of the Order of Australia for work as a botanist that included publications on arid shrub lands, said he had unsuccessfully tried to kill himself in Australia after his faculties including his hearing deteriorated.