University students commit 'suicide by laptop'

Two University of Edinburgh students, Robert Miller, 20, and James Robertson, 19, have apparently committed "suicide by laptop." The pair, childhood friends, used a device attached to a laptop computer to administer a lethal injection, similar to Dr. Philip Nitschke's so-called Deliverance Machine.

On Wednesday, Miller and Robertson were found slumped over in chairs, facing each other, at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Ayr, 80 miles from the University of Edinburgh, where they were both studying for joint maths and physics degrees. A webcam was found close to the pair, and it is believed they may have filmed their final moments.

Strathclyde Police examined the laptop and said they are not treating the deaths as suspicious. Edinburgh University is reportedly working with the police in an attempt to discover more information over the reasons behind the deaths of the students.

Dr. Philip Nitschke was also called Dr. Death. A pro-euthanasia doctor, the "Deliverance Machine" (above) consisted of a laptop connected to a syringe driver that could deliver a lethal dose of medication, after patients answered a yes to a series of questions proposed by the software, "Deliverance." Nitschke was instrumental in the passage of a pro-euthanasia law in 1995.

With the passage of the law, his machine became legal in Australia's Northern Territory. To deliver the dose, a patient had to answer a series of questions delivered to them by the notebook's software, which was dubbed "Deliverance." It was used by four terminally ill Australians before it was banned in 1997, when the law was overturned by the Federal government.