Two People Commit Assisted Suicide Weekly in Switzerland

Under existing Swiss laws, people are allowed to seek a doctor willing to give them a lethal dose of drugs, if they suffer from incurable diseases, or they simply are in too much pain from their medical conditions. Non-profit organizations, founded to answer this need, operate in Switzerland under the assumption that human rights are paramount. Dignitas is one such organization, and its founder says that he currently has about 6,000 members, out of which most will resort to his services “when the time comes.”

Each week, in a common building by the railroad tracks, in a small commuter town near Zürich, at least two foreigners, from England, France, Germany, Australia, Canada or the United States, come to lie in a bed and swallow a deadly dose of sodium pentobarbital. They drink the chemical themselves, and then fall deep asleep, after approximately 5 minutes. In about half an hour they die in their sleep, so proponents to this operation say that this is a very humane method of dying.

Ludwig A. Minelli, the leader of Dignitas, says that his group only assists someone willing to die if that someone "suffers from an illness that inevitably leads to death, or from an unacceptable disability, and wants to end their life and suffering voluntarily." He adds that his practice is non-profit, even though he charges about 8,500 Euros (roughly $11,500) for each patient.

Most of the money goes to salaries for his employees, while the rest goes to anti-suicide counseling and programs in the country. He says he wants to keep things this way because otherwise opponents to the idea of assisted suicide would have reason to believe that he is advocating death for his own personal gain.

Public support for suicide under guidance is very widespread in Switzerland, and most of the nation's citizens believe that each and every one should be able to do with their bodies as they please. However, there are numerous voices that critic the fact that the country has become a world-renowned destination for “suicide tourism.” Church groups are the most die-hard opponents to this law, ever since it was first approved, in 1942, saying that life is sacrosanct, and that no one should be able to end it as they please.