X-Message-Number: 27280
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 19:45:34 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Assisted suicide in Switzerland
References: <>


Today in Deutsche Welle TV, there was a report about assisted suicide, which is 
illegal in Germany, but supported by 76% of the population.  Part of the report 
centred on Dignitas, an institution in Zurich, Switzerland, which provides 
euthanasia services not only to Swiss nationals, but also unlike other 
jurisdictions, also to foreigners.  Because Zurich is  situated in that part of 
Switzerland, in which the German language dominates, most of the information 
appears to be in German, and consequently more than half of the patients of the 
institute are German.  As a result Dignitas has now opened an office in Germany 
to help facilitate access to their services for Germans who seek them. 

 

Here are a couple of URLs with texts concerning Dignitas in English

 

http://www.dignitas.ch/we/Referat_Giessen.htm

 

and

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2948665.stm 

Partial Quote:

Legal basis: 

The Swiss law on suicide states: 


"Whoever lures someone into suicide or provides assistance to commit suicide out
of a self-interested motivation will, on completion of the suicide, be punished
with up to five years' imprisonment".

 


Dignitas interprets this to mean that anyone who assists suicide altruistically 
cannot be punished.

Unquote

 


If this has been discussed here previously, I have missed it and apologize for 
repeating it.


It appears to me, that this would be a strong point in favour of locating a 
European cryonics in Switzerland, a country with a centuries old tradition of 
tolerance.

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