Swiss group to assist the suicides of elderly healthy people.

By Alex Schadenberg

International Chair - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Swiss assisted suicide death.

Assisted suicide is facilitated in Switzerland by suicide groups who assist the suicide deaths of their members. The assisted suicide groups charge a "membership fee" and fees for assisted suicide itself. Assisted suicide groups have their own "rules and regulations." There are few national regulations for assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Assisted suicide is when someone, or a group, assists the suicide of a person who has asked to die.

Last weekend, at their annual general meeting, Exit, an assisted suicide group in Switzerland, decided to extend assisted suicide to healthy elderly people who are living with some form of physical or psychological pain.

Psychological pain refers to a person who lives with depression, mental illness or "feelings of hopelessness."

The UK Guardian reported that Dr Jürg Schlup, the President of the Swiss Medical Association denounced the decision to extend assisted suicide to healthy elderly people by stating:

"We do not support the change of statutes by Exit. It gives us cause for concern because it cannot be ruled out that elderly healthy people could come under pressure of taking their own life"

The Vice President of Exit, Bernard Sutter told the media:

"Our members told us to get active on this subject. It was ripe for a decision,"

A recent study found that in 16% of the assisted suicide deaths in Switzerland, the person had no underlying illness.

Pietro D'Amico

Pietro D’Amico, a 62-year-old magistrate from Calabria in southern Italy, died by assisted suicide in Basel Switzerland in April 2013 after receiving a wrong diagnosis.

In March 2010, the Atlantic monthly magazine did an exposé on the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland. The exposé confirmed the rumors that the leader of the suicide clinic kept jewelry and other items that were left behind after a client died to re-sell it and that crematory urns had been dumped in Lake Zurich.

Swiss assisted suicide organizations gained legal status in the 1980′s. The shift by Exit came shortly after a doctor was acquitted by a Swiss appeals court for administrating life-ending drugs to a 89-year old man without examining him first.

Links to similar articles: 

• Swiss doctor acquitted for assisting a suicide without a diagnosis.

• Assisted suicide for the healthy in Switzerland.

• Swiss assisted suicide clinic kills man with wrong diagnosis.

• Susan Griffiths, assisted suicide and Switzerland.