Brit Conductor's Assisted Suicide

This isn't like to quell England's debate over assisted suicide: conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, Lady Joan, ended their lives at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich, The Times of London reports. British authorities said they are investigating the Downes' deaths. The 85-year-old maestro, famous for his devotion to Prokofiev and above all to Verdi, had said that one of his few regrets was only conducting 25 of Verdi's 28 operas. At the time of his suicide, Downes was virtually blind and partially deaf, while his 74-year-old wife suffered from cancer. More than 100 Brits have traveled to Switzerland, where assisted suicide is legal, in order to end their lives.