BMJ 2007;335:1064-1065 (24 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.39405.470498.94
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Swiss hospitals admit to allowing assisted suicide on their wards
Annette Tuffs
Heidelberg
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The University Hospital in Bern, Switzerland, admitted last week that an assisted suicide of a terminally ill patient took place on its premises in April 2007. The hospital's management and its ethics committee sanctioned the assisted suicide of a patient with cancer who was too ill to be transported anywhere else, a hospital spokesperson said.
The patient was helped by a member of the Swiss organisation Exit, which provides assistance to patients living in Switzerland who wish to commit suicide. Helping terminally ill patients to commit suicide is not illegal in Switzerland.
After the Bern hospital's announcement the university hospitals of Lausanne and Geneva also admitted that assisted suicides had taken place on their premises. The Swiss Academy of Medical and Natural Sciences (www.samw.ch) ruled in 2007 that hospitals could decide for themselves whether or not to allow assisted suicide.
Most hospitals in Switzerland have established guidelines on
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