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NEWS: Clare Dyer Washington follows Oregon to legalise physician assisted suicide BMJ 2008; 337: a2480 [Full text]

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More about physician assisted suicide…and euthanasia

Fernando Verdu, Francesc Frances. Assistan Professor of Legal and Forensic Medicine. Ana Castello. Professor of Legal and Forensic Medicine. University of Valencia. Spain   (16 November 2008)

More about physician assisted suicide…and euthanasia 16 November 2008
Fernando Verdu, Professor of Legal and Forensic Medicine University of Valencia. Av. Blasco Ibanez,15, 46010 Valencia. Spain, Francesc Frances. Assistan Professor of Legal and Forensic Medicine. Ana Castello. Professor of Legal and Forensic Medicine. University of Valencia. Spain Send response to journal: Re: More about physician assisted suicide…and euthanasia	Dear Sir: Clara Dyer finished is News (1) with this paragraph: ‘Physician assisted suicide is also legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland. About 100 Britons have travelled to Switzerland, which has no requirement of residency, to end their lives’ We want to make a clarification on the situation in Switzerland and two inputs for two countries which were not named in the news. First, in fact in Switzerland, the Swiss Criminal Code does not require any specific situation of citizenship. There is stated in the article 115: ‘Whoever, from selfish motives, induces another person to commit suicide or aids him in it, shall be confined in the penitentiary for not over five years, or in the prison, provided that the suicide has either been completed or attempted’. Therefore, in contrario sensu, in Switzerland, abetting and helping to suicide is no crime as long as the helper is not acting in a selfish manner, but by piety or by a similar value. However, the two organizations that help to die in Switzerland –EXIT and DIGNITAS- have different requirements. The two EXIT organisations in Geneva and Zurich did not accept persons beyond Swiss borders. Applicants for assistance must be persons resident in Switzerland. DIGNITAS, in contrast, has no similar requirement. So this is the organization sought by tourism without return, the last trip. To have an assisted suicide with DIGNITAS you have to join the association as a member; the costs are a single registration fee of 84 GBP and an annual membership fee of 34 GBP. When the end comes, we must cover some costs (2): – for preparing until to the «provisional green light» 1,255 GBP. – the same sum for accompanying to assisted suicide. 1,255 GBP more. – 628 GBP for the handling with the relevant authorities. - 210 GBP for the service of the physician. Him or her must be a Swiss physician willing to write the prescription for the lethal medicament (which is called «the provisional green light») – 840 GBP for the fees of the Registry and the Burial Offices including cremation. And it's over. Furthermore the two countries not mentioned are Luxembourg and Colombia. In Luxembourg, the February 19, 2008, the Parliament of Grand Duchy has approved the bill Errr/Huss on de-criminalization of euthanasia. Then Luxembourg join The Netherlands and Belgium in the field of assisted suicide (3). The Benelux again. Finally, in Colombia in 1997, the high court ruled that ending a life was not a crime when a patient suffered from a terminal illness, had requested death, and no medical treatments existed. Euthanasia in pure. We declare that we have not conflict of interest. 1. Dyer C. Washington follows Oregon to legalise physician assisted suicide. BMJ 2008;337:a2480 2. http://www.dignitas.ch/WeitereTexte/FriendsAtTheEnd.pdf (access 11.16.2008) 3. http://www.exit-geneve.ch/AccueilGB.htm (access 11.16.2008) 4. Ceaser M. Euthanasia in legal limbo in Colombia. Lancet, Volume 371, Issue 9609, Competing interests: None declared