X-Message-Number: 25048
From: "Mikhail Soloviev" <>
Subject: Exit to help mentally ill to die (Assisted suicide in Switzerland)
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 10:57:25 +0100

Exit to help mentally ill to die

swissinfo

November 11, 2004

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=511&sid=5334522

Exit, one of four organisations offering assisted suicide in
Switzerland, says it will no longer rule out granting its services
to the mentally ill.

The association imposed a moratorium on assisted suicide for
psychiatric patients in 1999, following a barrage of criticism.

Exit said on Thursday that it had decided to soften its stance on
offering voluntary euthanasia to the mentally ill, provided that
the patient was capable of taking a rational decision to do so.

It added that an official psychiatric assessment of the person
would also be required.

Exit, which with 50,000 members is Switzerland s largest assisted
suicide organisation, said that it had reconsidered its 1999
decision following an external report into the matter.

The report, which was carried out by experts in the field,
concluded that there were many psychiatric patients who were able
to make rational decisions and, therefore, should have the same
rights to assistance as anyone else, said Exit in a statement.

But the organisation added that it would not be granting its
services to people whose wish to die was part of their mental
illness.

Liberal

Switzerland has relatively liberal laws on assisted suicide,
stipulating that a person can only be prosecuted if they are
acting out of self-interest.

Four organisations offer assisted suicide services, but up until
now, only the Zurich-based Dignitas has granted voluntary
euthanasia to the mentally ill. Dignitas has also caused
controversy by offering its services to foreigners.

Recent studies show that Switzerland has the greatest number of
cases of assisted suicide in Europe.

A report by Zurich University last year found that seven out of
ten terminally ill people in Switzerland had ended their lives
through different types of euthanasia.

But the House of Representatives rejected the decriminalisation of
active euthanasia two years ago.

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