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Britons visit Swiss clinic to beat new curbs on 'suicide tourists'
Sophie Goodchild, Health and Social Affairs Correspondent29 Oct 2009
Dozens of London families are set to travel to a Swiss suicide clinic after the country warned it was tightening the rules on assisted dying.
The Dignitas clinic in Zurich has helped hundreds of terminally ill people to die. But today it was revealed the Swiss government is to crack down on "suicide tourism".
New proposals mean clinics such as Dignitas will have to accept much stricter regulation or be closed. Patients will have to provide two statements from two doctors declaring their disease incurable, that death is expected within months and that they have made their decision of sound mind and while fully aware of their options.
Switzerland has become the main destination for Britons seeking assisted suicide. At least 119 are known to have died at Dignitas including London businessman Raymond Cutkelvin who made the journey with partner Alan Cutkelvin Rees. Mr Cutkelvin Rees is being investigated by the police and faces possible charges when he returns for questioning next month.
Up to 800 more people are members of Dignitas which means they plan to die there at some time in the future.
But some of these patients are not terminally ill and at least a few are suffering from clinical depression. This has led to criticism that the clinic has widened its criteria to make money.
In the case of Mr Cutkelvin Rees, the clinic charged £4,500 to help him take his life. Some of this money was paid by assisted suicide campaigner Dr Michael Irwin who is also facing a police investigation.
In the UK, the jail term for helping someone take their own life is up to 15 years. But the director of public prosecutions issued new guidance in August in an attempt to clarify the law. This is broadly sympathetic to relatives who accompany people to Dignitas.
The Swiss authorities have already closed the Zurich flat where dozens of Britons have ended their lives. This followed complaints by neighbours in the same block that bodies were being carried down the communal stairs in full view of residents. The "clinic" has been moved to a secret location.
The plan by the Swiss authorities is to slow down the process allowing people to take their own lives and make it a more considered, and carefully policed, decision. The restrictions could come in soon after a consultation period which ends in March next year. Doctors' recommendations will be controlled and those who prescribe fatal drugs observed more closely. The draft law will also ban any attempt to charge more than basic expenses for assisted suicide.
Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas, described the proposals as "outdated and patronising".
Reader views (1)
> New proposals mean clinics such as Dignitas will have to accept much stricter regulation or be closed. Patients will have to provide two statements from two doctors declaring their disease incurable, that death is expected within months and that they have made their decision of sound mind and while fully aware of their options.
A completely sensible decision from the completely sensible Swiss. A shame that we won't follow their example, thereby forcing those suffering incurably and without any hope, to end their lives away from their home.
- Nigel, London, 29/10/2009 12:56
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