Do we know enough about euthanasia drugs?

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Manuela Callari reported in an article published by Medscape on March 13, 2025 that we don't know enough about assisted dying drugs. Callari interviewed several physicians who are doing euthanasia and a doctor who does palliative care research.

Callari begins the article by stating:

The medical community is accustomed to rigorous standards for drug development and approval. But in the context of assisted dying, there is a surprising and persisting lack of robust scientific data.

Steven Pleiter

Callari interviews Steven Pleiter the former managing director of the Dutch Center of Expertise for Euthanasia (Euthanasia clinic) who states:

“It’s very hard to do scientific research with regard to the usage of drugs for euthanasia. If you apply euthanasia, you want to be successful, and you can’t use any other drugs than the drugs we know work,”

“But the evidence is based on years and years of experience.”

Claud Regnard, MD, a retired palliative medicine consultant in the United Kingdom told Callari that:

“The amount of evidence supporting the use of these drugs is astoundingly small,

 “The last study looking at efficacy and side effects was published 25 years ago, using data from 10 years earlier.”

Dr Claud Regnard

Callari reported that unlike other areas of medicine, assisted dying has largely escaped rigorous scientific evaluation. He reported Regnard as stating:

“You wouldn’t allow this in any way with any other sort of drugs,” Regnard said. In a 2022 study, he found that drugs used for assisted dying have not undergone the usual level of scrutiny.

The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of these drugs at high doses remain poorly understood. “We extrapolate from therapeutic doses, but we have no proper data on what happens at lethal doses,” Regnard said. "That's not science — that's guesswork.”

Collari explained that:

Euthanasia is when a doctor directly ends the life of a patient, while assisted dying is when a doctor provides the means for them to end their own life.

(Collari should use the term assisted suicide rather than assisted dying. Assisted dying is often used for both euthanasia and assisted suicide.)

Collari reported Regnard as stating:

He said most jurisdictions, like Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Australia, do not systematically collect or publish data on assisted dying drug efficacy, mechanisms, and complications. “Oregon is the only jurisdiction providing some transparency, but even their data is severely incomplete,”

Collari continues:

The Netherlands, one of the first European countries to legalize euthanasia and assisted dying, has developed guidelines on their implementation, now in their third edition.

Pleiter explains how euthanasia is done in the Netherlands:

For euthanasia, the standard Dutch protocol involves an initial injection of thiopental or propofol at doses several times higher than those used in general anesthesia to induce a deep coma. This is followed by administering a neuromuscular blocking agent such as rocuronium, atracurium, or cisatracurium in doses sufficient to cause complete paralysis and eventual death. “Most people die after the coma-inducing drug because it’s such a high dose,”  

“The patient will die within seconds. It’s very rapid.”

We know that the patient does not die within seconds in Oregon, where the Oregon 2023 assisted suicide report indicates that the longest time of death in 2023 was 137 hours. Collari then explains how assisted suicide is done in Switzerland

In Switzerland, a commonly used drug is the fast-acting barbiturate sodium pentobarbital, according to documentation provided by Dignitas to Medscape Medical News. This is usually taken orally or, in some cases, via a gastric tube or intravenously. The documentation did not include specific data on this drug’s efficacy or complication rates. Dignitas declined a request for an interview.

None of these drugs are approved for euthanasia and there is no standardized protocol. Regnard explains:

There is no standardized global approach to drug selection and dosing for either euthanasia or assisted dying, and the process is mainly empirical. “There isn’t a single drug regulatory authority anywhere in the world that has assessed and approved assisted dying drugs [in the doses required for this purpose],”

Instead, these medications are approved for indications such as anesthesia or epilepsy, and their use in euthanasia or assisted dying falls under off-label prescribing. Physicians rely on guidelines established by medical associations, expert committees, and historical clinical practice for their use.

Since Oregon is the only jurisdiction that collects data on the use of assisted dying drug coctails, Regnard provides an analysis of the Oregon data:

In a 2023 report from the US state of Oregon, 74% of complication data were missing. Of the available data, 9%-11% of patients experienced complications, including vomiting, aspiration, agitation, and seizures. “In some cases, patients regained consciousness after ingesting a lethal dose,” he said.

The time to death also varies widely — from minutes to several hours. Factors such as the specific drugs used, the route of administration, and individual patient factors can all play a role. In some cases, death may occur rapidly, while in others it may take longer. This variability can be distressing for both the patient and their loved ones, particularly if they expect a swift and peaceful death, he argued.

Article: Death by assisted suicide is not what you think it is. (Link).

Pleiter agrees that the evidence concerning the safe use of these drugs and  evidence concerning complications is anecdotal. Pleiter's comments actually reinforce the research by Regnard. Regnard continues by pointing out that:

The lack of reliable data also raises concerns about informed consent. Patients are often reassured that their death will be peaceful, but without comprehensive studies, how can such promises be guaranteed?

Regnard asks:

“How can you get informed consent from a patient when the data isn’t there?”

“Until they produce the data, the data is purely anecdotal. We wouldn’t tolerate that level of uncertainty in palliative care, so why are we tolerating it here?”

Collari reports that Pleiter argued that, based on experience, the Dutch protocols work:

Pleiter noted that euthanasia has been practiced in the Netherlands for two decades, with consistent guidelines that have undergone only minor revisions. More than 100,000 patients have undergone the procedure using these established protocols. The core drug dosages have remained mostly unchanged. “When the correct drugs are administered at the right doses, there are no issues, and the outcome is always certain,” he said. Having overseen almost 5000 cases, Pleiter said he has never encountered complications.

But Mario Riccio, MD, a retired anesthetist, current advisor of the Luca Coscioni Association, an assisted dying group in Italy told Collari

“Even with precautions, the process is not always smooth. There can be moments of discomfort and unexpected reactions — things we simply cannot control. But for someone whose suffering is so excruciating that he is determined to die, minor complications are completely surmountable.”

There is no evidence concerning the use of euthanasia and assisted suicide poison coctails. 

Links to more articles on this topic:

• Death by assisted suicide is not what you think it is (Link). 
• Assisted suicide: Proceed with caution (Link). 
• Assisted suicide is the wrong prescription (Link). 
• Assisted suicide. It's not that simple (Link). 
• Assisted suicide deaths are not what you think they are (Link). 
• Assisted suicide is neither painless nor dignified (Link).

Woman who died in Sarco pod had strangulation marks.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Miriam Kuepper and Elena Salvoni reported for the Daily Mail on October 28 that strangulation marks were found on the 64-year-old American woman who died in the Sarco death pod on September 23, 2024.

On September 24 I published an article stating that the Swiss police had made arrests related to the Sarco death pod and on September 29 I published an article explaining why the Sarco death method constitutes torture.

Kuepper and Salvoni reported that:

The first person to use the Sarco suicide pod in a Swiss woodland was allegedly found inside with strangulation marks on her neck.

The 64-year-old American woman died inside the capsule set up near a cabin in Merishausen, Switzerland, on September 23 after pushing a button that injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber, causing fatal hypoxia.

Dr Florian Willet, the president of Swiss Sarco operator The Last Resort, was among several people arrested at the scene.

Kuepper and Salvoni explain that Willett remains in jail.

He still today remains in custody - nearly five weeks after the US woman's death. Willet was the only person present when the mother-of-two died.

Investigators are now probing the woman's death, with chief prosecutor Peter Sticher raising the suspicion of 'intentional homicide' after suggesting in court that the 64-year-old may have been strangled, Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant reports.

The woman had suffered serious neck injuries, according to a forensic doctor, who spoke to the prosecutor just hours after her death.

A spokesperson for The Last Resort stated:

The woman had reportedly been diagnosed with skull base osteomyelitis.

The disease could manifest as an infection of the bone marrow, which could have been responsible for the marks on her neck resembling strangulation marks, according to a person close to The Last Resort who spoke to Swiss outlet NZZ.

Eleni Salvoni reported in the Daily Mail on October 29 that:  

The Last Resort and Exit International - the organisations behind Sarco - have insisted that its first user voluntarily entered the pod and pushed a button to fill the chamber with nitrogen, triggering her own death.

The Sarco death pod was invented by Philip Nitschke, who had lost his medical license in Australia. The 64-year-old American woman who died in the Sarco pod that was organized by The Last Resort Swiss assisted suicide group that is led by Florian Willett, a former spokesperson for the euthanasia group Dignitas and Fiona Stewart, the wife of Philip Nitschke.

Assisted dying legislation: Unintended consequences.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

The Times, which has supported assisted suicide in the past, published their view on the proposed assisted dying bill in the UK on October 4, 2024. Here is what they wrote:

The trajectory of how the law has changed in other countries is a warning to the UK

The strongest argument in support of legalising assisted dying in the UK is that it is about choice. Its proponents make a persuasive case that individuals enduring severe pain or multiple indignities from a terminal illness should have the option to end their life at a time of their choosing. Instead of compelling an ill person to go through a gruelling, unpredictable run-up to a natural death, medical intervention can pull death back within the realm of personal control. Who would, or should, deny another that option in extremis?

This is the reasoning advanced by Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP for Spen Valley, whose bill to introduce a legal assisted dying process for the terminally ill will be tabled this month. MPs will be given a free vote on what is regarded as a matter of conscience. Yet supporters of change believe their cause is gaining irreversible momentum: polls suggest that it is now a closer possibility that at any time in our history. Personal pleas command public sympathy. The presenter and campaigner Esther Rantzen, who has terminal lung cancer, ­eloquently argues that she would rather experience a medically induced death at home surrounded by family than be forced to travel solo to Dignitas, the Swiss organisation that offers physician-assisted suicide to those who wish to die. The logic of individual choice is powerful, so long as it stands alone. But the truth is that the “right to die”, when that killing is sanctioned by the state, does not stand alone: it becomes part of a web of other difficult choices and questions, which extend beyond any individual to alter the whole of society.

The consequences of such a change would be far reaching. Among those affected are UK doctors and nurses, whose role would change from preservers of life to ­— in this instance — purveyors of death, a fundamental shift that many would find unconscionable. Others include individuals who require assistance in order to live a dignified and bearable life, like those who are disabled, or elderly and infirm: many share the concerns of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the Paralympic athlete and disability campaigner, that if such legislation expanded they could come under insidious pressure to end their lives rather than be a “burden” to family and society.

Ms Leadbeater has argued that such fears of a “slippery slope” regarding this legislation are ill-founded. This is wrong: in fact such fears have an increasingly clear basis in reality. In Canada, which introduced assisted dying for the terminally ill in 2016, legislation was subsequently extended to those whose illness or disability is incurable or causes unbearable suffering, and later to those in severe mental distress — although the last proviso will not be enacted until 2027. In the Netherlands last May, Zoraya ter Beek, a physically healthy ­29-year-old woman, was legally euthanised on the grounds of mental suffering.

If this legislation is indeed solely intended to address the understandable terrors of the terminally ill, then a different route is available, as the health secretary Wes Streeting has suggested. It is to improve specialist palliative care for all to a standard of excellence currently experienced only by some. That might also involve clarification for doctors on higher permitted levels of pain relief in such specific circumstances. This would be a far wiser and more humane move than stumbling into legislation which has already revealed a deeply disturbing tendency to exceed its original remit.

Previous articles on this topic:

• The UK will debate assisted suicide bill this year (Link).
  

A Mother's warning about her sons death by assisted suicide in Switzerland.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An 82-year-old mother in the UK is warning people about assisted suicide after her 47-year-old son died at a Swiss assisted suicide clinic.

Judith Hamilton

Paul Brand reported for ITV.com on May 16, 2024 that the Pegasos assisted suicide clinic which assists the suicides of hundreds of people every year, assisted the suicide of Alastair Hamilton, who had an undiagnosed condition. 

Following an ITV News investigation, Pegasos said it would change its procedures to ensure that relatives were always informed in future. Brand reported:

The chemistry teacher had dramatically lost weight and complained of stomach problems in the months leading up to his death, but did not have a diagnosed illness.

His family had been supporting him in seeking medical help and had no idea he was really travelling to Switzerland to end his life.

When he failed to return to the UK and stopped answering his phone, his mother reported him missing.

Bank records eventually revealed that he had paid £11,000 to Pegasos to access what's known as a 'voluntary assisted death' in Switzerland.

ITV News travelled with his family to trace his final journey and confront the clinic which accepted his online application form, which has been seen by ITV News.

Pegasos approved Alastairs death even though they knew that he had an undiagnosed condition. Brand reported:

Limited to 300 word answers, Alastair told them that his undiagnosed condition was causing him "pain, fatigue and discomfort" which had "devastated my life".

However, he admitted that "there is no current, definitive medical explanation" for his illness and that his family did not know he had decided to take his own life.

Despite that, Pegasos accepted his application and within several days of arriving in Switzerland he was helped to die.

At first Pegasos did not respond to the Hamilton family but after ITV got involved they agreed to meet with the family. Brand stated:

Eventually, with the involvement of police and the British embassy, the clinic responded, confirming Alastair's death and returning his ashes to his family in the post.

We persuaded a representative from Pegasos to meet with Judith and Bradley in Switzerland to answer their questions.

At an anonymous office in central Basel, we were greeted by Sean Davison, who had spoken repeatedly to Alastair before he died.

Sean Davidson

Sean Davidson is a past President of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies and a former leader of Dignity South Africa who completed three years (house arrest) in South Africa for his conviction in the deaths of Anrich Burger (in 2013), Justin Varian (in 2015), and Richard Holland (in 2015). Sean Davidson was also convicted in the death of his mother in 2010 and he lost his medical license in New Zealand in 2020.

Brand ended the article by stating:

"In 2022, the Swiss Medical Association revised its guidelines regarding assisted dying. It is important to understand that these guidelines are not legally binding for the associations but are policies for the medical professionals. Several organisations for assisted dying, including Exit, Dignitas and Pegasos, publicly spoke out against the revised guidelines, because they are putting at risk the self-determination of people planning a voluntary assisted death and the freedom of choice in Switzerland."

Previous articles about Switzerland's assisted suicide law:

• My husbands death made me more opposed to assisted suicide (Link). 
• Swiss study: Legalizing assisted suicide does not lessen the number of common suicides (Link).
  

What assisted suicide and the death penalty have in common

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dr Jacqueline Abernathy wrote an article this week titled: Civilized Societies Don't Execute or Euthanize Human Beings. Kevin Yuill, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Sunderland and CEO of Humanists Against Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia (HAASE) also wrote an article that was published in Spiked titled: What assisted dying and the death penalty have in common.

Kevin Yuill

Yuill introduces his article by stating:

On 25 January, the US state of Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith. Thirty-six years on from being convicted of the ‘murder for hire’ killing of Elizabeth Sennett, the 58-year-old finally ‘answered for his horrendous crimes’, as Alabama governor Kay Ivey put it.

The execution was rightly condemned by liberals of all stripes. Activists, campaigners, members of the US Supreme Court and even the United Nations re-stated their opposition to the death penalty.

Yuill explains that the method for killing Smith was ‘nitrogen hypoxia’. Yuill quotes many of the outraged groups that stated:

‘Just the idea of using gas for executions is an affront to our community’, said Mike Zoosman, the co-founder of L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty. Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights joined in the condemnation of Smith’s execution. Four independent UN monitors accused the US government and Alabama of pushing ahead with an experimental execution technique that would ‘result in a painful and humiliating death’. Maya Foa, the joint executive director of human-rights campaign Reprieve, asked rhetorically: ‘How many more prisoners must die agonising deaths before we see executions for what they really are: the state violently taking a human life?’

Yuill states that all of these groups that condemned the capital punishment death of Smith support assisted death. Yuill then compares assisted death to capital punishment:

In fact, the methods of killing in cases of assisted suicide bare an uncanny resemblance to those used for state-ordered executions. In Canada alone, there were 13,000 assisted deaths by lethal injection last year. In the 2000s, Dignitas in Switzerland even experimented with helium hypoxia, a very similar method to that used to kill Smith. Dignitas’s efforts resulted in the botched killings of one man and three women, because of ill-fitting masks.

Even the length of time it takes to die is comparable between assisted suicide and the death penalty. But while critics have described the 22 minutes it took Smith to die in Alabama as ‘agonising’, they say nothing about the 40-plus minutes it takes individuals to die through assisted suicide in Oregon.

Yuill challenges those who oppose capital punishment but support euthanasia:

Those who oppose capital punishment but support euthanasia will say that there’s a vital difference between the two. People choose to die in cases of euthanasia, they say, whereas criminals don’t choose to be executed. But this is not the clincher they think it is. About 10 per cent of those who are executed in the US are what are known as ‘volunteers’, insofar as they choose not to appeal their sentences and accept their fate. According to the logic of pro-euthanasia advocates, executions would be more justified in these cases. This highlights the weakness of the ‘choice’ argument as a justification for state-approved killing.

If we are serious about opposing capital punishment, we need to oppose the premeditated killing of a human being by the state in all circumstances. That means opposing euthanasia and assisted suicide with just as much vehemence as opposing the death penalty.

Supporters of capital punishment and state-sponsored euthanasia share a similarly low view of human life. They both see certain lives as being devoid of all value. We need to stop being selective, and start opposing state-approved killing in all its forms.

Thank you Professor Yuill for your consistent position.

My husbands death made me more opposed to assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An excellent article by Dominic Penna was published in the Telegraph on January 9 concerning Nadine Dorries, the former cultural secretary in the UK government, on how the death of her husband has made her more strongly opposed to assisted suicide. Penna writes:

Nadine Dorries

Nadine Dorries has said the death of her husband at home only served to increase her opposition to assisted dying.

Paul Dorries, who died of bowel cancer in June 2019, asked to travel to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland to end his life as soon as he received his terminal diagnosis, the former culture secretary said.

But setting out her opposition to the “distressing” practice of assisted suicide, Ms Dorries said her husband had eventually been glad to spend his final weeks in palliative care surrounded by loved ones.

Assisting a suicide is illegal in the UK, so Dorries husband had said that he wanted to die by assisted suicide in Switzerland. Penna continued:

In her weekly column for the Daily Mail, Ms Dorries said her husband told her he wanted “to go to Dignitas now, while I still can” on the day that he was given four months to live.

“In the event, that is not what happened. The process to sign up with Dignitas takes a considerable time … Paul’s short prognosis timed him out,” she wrote.

“But, as I will explain, the peaceful way he died at home four months later – surrounded by his loving family – only reinforced my strong view that assisted dying is wrong.”

Penna concludes:

Despite his initial request to end his life, Ms Dorries said her late husband came to cherish the “attention and the banter” provided by those who cared for him in his final weeks.

“He didn’t die in a clinical setting in Switzerland, but at home in our arms,” she concluded. “And at the end, that was exactly where he wanted to be.”

More articles on this topic:

• Swiss assisted suicide groups are concerned that "stricter rules" will discourage suicide tourism (Link).
• Healthy American sisters die at Swiss assisted suicide clinic (Link). 
• Nearly every suicide death at Swiss clinic are foreign clients (Link).

France's Council of State rejects assisted suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Paris Protest against euthanasia (2014)

The highest administrative court in France, on December 29, 2022; rejected a challenge to France's law by Switzerland's Dignitas assisted suicide group. Dignitas is committed to legalizing assisted suicide in other jurisdictions.

According to CNE news:

The organisation (Dignitas) had asked the French Prime Minister and Minister of Health to modify the regulations concerning poisonous substances. It wanted an exception for their use for suicide. However, as the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health refused to do so, Dignitas took them to court. The organisation believed that the refusal was an infringement on the constitution that safeguards the dignity of individuals. The Council of State rejected the request in 2021 already, but Dignitas continued to launch requests.

Now, the Council of State has ruled that European Law does not recognise the right to die with dignity, and thus, France is not obliged to establish a regulation that legalises assisted suicide.

The assisted suicide debate is not settled in France.

In September, France's President Emmanuel Macron stated that he wants to legalize euthanasia. An Associated Press article reported that Macron said in a written statement that a body composed of citizens will work on the issue in the coming months in coordination with health care workers, while local debates are to be organized in French regions.

France's citizen convention began it's deliberations in December.

Swiss assisted suicide clinic says Scotland's assisted suicide bill doesn't go far enough.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Dignitas Coffin

The Swiss assisted suicide clinic that specializes in foreign suicides told Scotlands parliament that their proposed assisted suicide bill doesn't go far enough. Dignitas, that has long been involved with promoting the legalization of assisted suicide world-wide.

An article by David Bol published on September 25 in the Herald told Scotland's parliament that after assisting 3200 suicide deaths that they advocate for no waiting periods, that terminal illness is not required and only one doctor needs to approve the death.

Scotland has debated assisted suicide several times. The last assisted suicide bill was defeated in May 2015 by a vote of 82 to 36. The Care Not Killing Alliance is urging Scotland's MSP's to reject the bill and focus on improving end-of-life care.

Liam McArthur, who is sponsoring the assisted suicide bill was reported as stating that:

“I am immensely grateful to everyone who took time to share their views as part of the public consultation on my proposals, particularly those who shared their personal experiences. This will help inform and shape any future bill.

“It is important that in looking to change the law to allow for the choice of an assisted death for adults with a terminal illness and mental capacity that we strike a balance between safety and compassion.

"Having effective and proportionate safeguards in place helps achieve that vital balance.” 

Scotland needs to examine Canada's experience with assisted death and then reject it. In 6 years, Canada has gone from prohibiting assisted death to competing with the Netherlands for the highest percentage of assisted deaths. In the past few months many personal stories have emerged of people with disabilities, the elderly, people who are unable to access treatment and people living in poverty being approved for and dying by an assisted death.

Links to more stories of the euthanasia experience in Canada:

• Mother wants to stop 23-year-old son from being Killed by euthanasia (Link).
• Veterans affairs worker advocates euthanasia for PTSD (Link).
• Ontario man approved for euthanasia can't get needed medical treatment (Link).
• Alberta man requests euthanasia based on poverty (Link).
• Shopping for doctor death in Canada (Link).
• Gwen is seeking euthanasia because she can't access medical treatment (Link).
• Euthanasia for disability and poverty (Link).
• Euthanasia for Long Covid and poverty (Link).
• Canada's MAiD law is the most permissive in the world. (Link).

Swiss assisted suicide groups concerned that "stricter" rules will discourage suicide tourism.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An article by Kuoru Udo published by Swissinfo.ch on July 26 explains that Switzerland's new assisted suicide guidelines may lead to fewer suicide tourists. 

Udo introduces the issue with the story of Alex Pandolfo who lives in the UK with early onset dementia.

Sixty-eight-year-old Pandolfo lives in the UK. When he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer disease in 2015, Lifecircle, an assisted suicide organisation in Basel, gave him the green light and accepted his request for assisted suicide. He plans to go to Switzerland when “the time has come”.

Under the old rules, he would have had to stay in Basel for just a few days to complete his plan, but the new ‘two-week-rule’ makes it a lot more expensive. “People who don’t have enough money will be put off by it,” Pandolfo told SWI swissinfo.ch.

Udo explains that last May the Swiss Medical Association agreed to a new set of guidelines for assisted suicide that state: 

• The physician must – other than in justified exceptional cases – conduct at least two detailed discussions with the patient separated by an interval of at least two weeks.
  
• The symptoms of the illness and/or functional impairment must be unbearable, the severity of which is to be substantiated by a legitimate diagnosis and prognosis.
• Assisted suicide for healthy persons is not medically or ethically justifiable.
  

Previous guidelines did not require a two week interval and they permitted assisted suicide for otherwise healthy people.

Swiss assisted suicide groups are opposed to the new guidelines. Lifecircle president Erika Preisig opposes the ‘two-week-rule’ which she thinks is especially difficult for suicide tourists. Udo reports:

Even though Lifecircle offers the first meeting online, Preisig thinks it could still be a problem for some people. “Most of our patients are elderly who may not know how to conduct an online meeting. Some don’t even have a smartphone,” she notes. That means they would be obliged travel to Switzerland two weeks before their scheduled assisted suicide. And this would be particularly expensive for people with disabilities as they would have to cover the cost for their special care during the two weeks between consultations.

Dignitas, who specialize in foreign suicides, told Udo that:

“the new guideline shifts from putting weight on the patient’s personal view as justification for a physician to support the request for assisted suicide towards a more medical-diagnosis-classification of suffering.”

Switzerlands largest assisted suicide group, Exit, told Udo that:

psychosocial problems can also be a legitimate factor in wishing to end one’s life.

Udo reported that EXIT spokeswoman Muriel Düby said:

neither the Swiss medical fraternity nor the patients and assisted suicide organisations were given the chance to react to the new guidelines. “Even after the draft was approved by the highest authorities of SAMS, it was still classified as secret.”

The Swiss Medical Association appears to be wanting to curtail assisted suicide for people who are not sick or dying and yet the language of the guidelines are open to interpretation. Since the decision is based on "intolerable suffering" which is not objective, therefore assisted suicide for healthy people may continue under these guidelines. The requirement that there be at least two discussions no less than two weeks apart will slow down the assisted suicide approval process, even though one of the assisted suicide groups stated that the first discussion is done online.

‘Healthy’ American Sisters Die at Swiss Suicide Clinic

This article was published by National Review online on March 23, 2022

By Wesley Smith

Article: Swiss suicide clinic provides death for $11,000 (Link).

Repeat after me: Assisted-suicide legalization eventually leads to death on demand.

Oh, you doubt me? That is already the law in Germany thanks to a court ruling creating a constitutional right to a “self determined death,” with help from anyone, at any time, and for any reason.

Now a suicide clinic in Switzerland has committed a joint assisted suicide of apparently healthy sisters from Arizona who flew there secretly to be made dead. From The Independent story:

Sisters Lila Ammouri and Susan Frazier who died by assisted suicide in Switzerland had been healthy and happy prior to their death, their brother says. Cal Ammouri, 60, told The Independent he last spoke to his sisters a few weeks before they travelled to Switzerland on 3 February, and there was no indication they were about to end their lives. He said he had been kept in the dark by US Consular services about the cause of death . . .

Lila Ammouri, 54, a palliative care doctor, and Ms Frazier, 49, a registered nurse, flew from Arizona to Switzerland via Chicago on 3 February without telling friends or family. When they didn’t didn’t show up for work at Aetna Health Insurance on 15 February, colleagues raised the alarm, fearing they may have been kidnapped or held hostage.

Their death was confirmed by the US Consulate in Switzerland on 18 February. Basel-Landschaft Public Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Michael Lutz told The Independent the sisters had died with the help of an assisted suicide organisation.

Always remember that the conjoined mantras, “Strict guidelines protect against abuse,” and, “Assisted suicide is only for the terminally ill,” are utter bunk. Once suicide is redefined as a human right, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep the beast caged.

So, can we finally have an honest debate about this contentious issue? Right. I didn’t think so.

Death capsule is designed to undermine societal resistance to suicide.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

I have avoided writing about Philip Nitschke's (Dr Death) Sarco Death capsule that is designed to promote his death business while undermining resistance to suicide.

An article written by Clare O'Dea for Swissinfo.ch says that Switzerland has approved the Sarco death machine. Essentially this article is propaganda to popularize suicide and provide fame for Nitschke.

O'Dea reports:

Some 1,300 people died by assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2020 using the services of the country’s two largest assisted suicide organisations, Exit (no connection to Exit International) and Dignitas. The method currently in use is ingestion of liquid sodium pentobarbital.

...Sarco offers a different approach for a peaceful death, without the need for controlled substances.

Sarco is a deadly lucrative stunt for Nitschke, O'Dea confirms my thoughts:

The first Sarco is being displayed at the Museum for Sepulchral Culture in Kassel, Germany from September 2021 to August 2022. The second turned out not to be aesthetically pleasing. For that and various other reasons it’s not the best one to use.

In other words, the purpose of Sarco is to enable suicide in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Sarco fulfills Nitschke's philosophy that suicide should be available to anyone at any time. Nitschke tells O'Dea:

P.N.: Currently a doctor or doctors need to be involved to prescribe the sodium pentobarbital and to confirm the person’s mental capacity. We want to remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves.

Nitschke has been promoting suicide for years. Many years ago, when he was trying to create the "peaceful suicide pill" he was he stated that the suicide pill is for anyone, including troubled teens. This is what he told Kathryn Lopez in 2001:

I do not believe that telling people they have a right to life while denying them the means, manner, or information necessary for them to give this life away has any ethical consistency. So all people qualify, not just those with the training, knowledge, or resources to find out how to 'give away' their life. And someone needs to provide this knowledge, training, or resource necessary to anyone who wants it, including the depressed, the elderly bereaved, the troubled teen. If we are to remain consistent and we believe that the individual has the right to dispose of their life, we should not erect artificial barriers in the way of subgroups that don't meet our criteria.

Nitschke is a death salesman and the Sarco is his latest deadly device to create attention to his deadly business, while killing people along the way.

More articles on Nitschke:

• The economist swoons over death doctor and his suicide machine (Link).
• Suicide promotion websites linked to euthanasia activist (Link).
• Schadenberg comments on suicide activist, Philip Nitschke (Link).

Italy's first assisted suicide is a disabled man.

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

An ethics committee in the central Italian region of Marche has approved the first assisted suicide death, a man with quadriplegia known as Mario. 

I am particularly concerned that the Italian assisted suicide court decisions all concern people with disabilities.

An Italian court acquitted assisted suicide activists Marco Cappato and Mina Welby in the assisted suicide death of Davide Trentini who died in the April 2017 at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

In December 2020, a Milan court acquitted Italian assisted suicide activist, Marco Cappato in the assisted suicide death of Fabiano Antoniani (known as DJ Fabo), who died in February 2017 at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland.

Italian assisted suicide activists

Both assisted suicide deaths concerned people with disabilities. Davide Trentini was living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Fabiano Antoniani experienced a spinal cord injury in a serious car accident in June 2014.

Now, the first approved Italian assisted suicide death is a man with quadriplegia.

Italian court decisions appear to suggest that certain lives are not worth living. 

CBC News promotes couple euthanasia propaganda (MAiD).

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

CBC News published a story by Sara Fraser that cannot be ignored because it dangerously promotes couple euthanasia (MAiD) propaganda as a love story.

The story concerns Bob & Margi Wilson who recently died by euthanasia (MAiD). The story is also about a family who agreed to talk to CBC News about the death to celebrate their parents' "bravery" and to reduce any stigma around MAID.

The story states that the couples daughter, brought up the concept of MAiD with her mother, as her mother was approaching death.

Fraser really plays up the "perfect ending" to the love story. Fraser writes:

In the last weeks, the grandchildren gathered in their grandparents' room to keep them company, doing crafts and playing music. They reminisced about fun times the close-knit family had spent together. Nothing went unsaid. 

"It was bittersweet," Scott said of the scene. 

"I joked with my mom, I said it's almost Romeo and Juliet without the poison," Scott said. "We use humour in our family as a coping mechanism. In a way, there was somewhat of a relief that a decision had been made, because it was very up and down."

Even with this "love" story, death does not come without controversy. Fraser reports:

Margi lost consciousness in the days before, and the family thought she might die naturally before the agreed-upon date...

At 7 a.m. on May 25, doctors came into the room for a final check. They took the family to a different room, away from their parents, and briefed them on the procedure.

Even though Margi wasn't able to verbally consent, recent changes to the assisted dying law made it possible for doctors to carry out her wishes. Bob indicated to the doctors that he wanted to go through with it, too. 

Margi was not able to consent at the time of death and yet death was her "choice."

This story was written to sell the idea of couples dying by euthanasia.

You may remember the 2007 assisted suicide propaganda film, the suicide tourist featuring George & Betty Coumbias. George had significant medical issues but Betty was healthy. George wanted to die by assisted suicide at the Dignitas assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland and Betty, who was healthy, wanted to die with him, because she couldn't live without him. Betty died of cancer, in 2009, and George, who Betty couldn't live without, remarried and lived until his death in 2016.

Stories that are designed to sell more euthanasia have a "contagion" effect and create a false portrayal of what euthanasia is, that being, killing people with lethal drug cocktails.

Care Not Killing UK responds to question on travelling for assisted suicide during COVID lockdown

Care Not Killing Alliance Media Release

Thursday November 5, 2020

Dr Gordon Macdonald

Responding to the urgent parliamentary question on travelling during lockdown for the purpose of assisted suicide, Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing commented: 

“It is disappointing that yet against those pushing for the legalisation of assisted suicide and euthanasia are trying to exploit the global COVID pandemic to push their narrow and dangerous agenda.”

“To change the Suicide Act and homicide legislation would require removing universal protections based solely on someone’s health or disability. This would send out a dog whistle message that the lives of the terminally ill and disabled people are less worthy of protection than others.”  

“Exactly as we have seen with the treatment of a small number of residents in the UK’s care system. Currently under investigation are the blanket imposition of Do Not Resusitate notices and why vulnerable people were discharged from hospitals into care homes without testing for COVID, or ensuring they were no longer contagious.”

Dr Macdonald continued: 

“This is why in Oregon, the model put forward by those wanting a change in the law, more than half cite fear of being a burden on their families and finances as a reason they are ending their lives. While in the Netherlands and Belgium, laws for terminally ill mentally competent adults have been extended to people with psychiatric conditions, disabled people and even children. Most recently we have seen the acquittal of a medic who euthanised her patient, a 74-year-old woman suffering from dementia, despite the lady saying she did not want to die on no-less than three separate occasions. This is why mendacious claims about safeguards and strict limits should be dismissed and the current law maintained.”

“What we really need in our country is proper funding for high quality social and palliative care, which caters for patients’ physical and psychological needs and supports their families.”

For media inquiries, please call CNK at: 07970 162225. Ends

Care Not Killing is a UK-based alliance bringing together over 40 organisations - human rights and disability rights organisations, health care and palliative care groups, faith-based organisations groups - and thousands of concerned individuals.