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Switzerland had a standardised suicide rate of 10.7 per 100,000 (male 15.5, female 6.0) as of 2015. The actual (non-standardised) rate was 12.5 (male 18.5, female 6.6) in 2014.
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Switzerland had a standardised suicide rate of 10.7 per 100,000 (male 15.5, female 6.0) as of 2015. The actual (non-standardised) rate was 12.5 (male 18.5, female 6.6) in 2014.
The 2015 Swiss suicide rate of 10.7 (male 15.5, female 6.0) published by the World Health Organization is "age-standardised", attempting to control for differences in age structure for the purposes of international comparison. The standardised Swiss suicide rate is similar to the rates of neighbouring France (12.7; male 19.0, female 5.9), Austria (11.7; male 18.5, female 5.3) and Germany (9.1; male 14.5, female 4.5). It is somewhat below the European average of 11.93, and close to the global average of 10.67. [2]
The raw (non-standardised) Swiss suicide rate is somewhat higher; in 2014, 1,029 people committed non-assisted suicide (754 men, 275 women), for a rate of 12.5 per 100,000 (18.5 male, 6.6 female). Not included are 742 assisted suicides (320 men, 422 women); most of the assisted suicides concerned elderly people suffering from a terminal disease. [3]
The Swiss statistics of causes of death by years of potential life lost (YPLL) as of 2014 estimates suicides at 12,323 YPLL for men (12% of YPLL from all causes of death) and 4,750 YPLL for women (8% of YPLL from all causes of death). Standardised rates of YPLL per 100,000 people relative to the 2010 European standard population (Eurostat 2013) are 327.0 for men (29 hours per capita) and 128.6 (11 hours per capita) for women. [4]
The suicide rate has declined steadily during the 1980s to 2000s, down from 25 in the mid 1980s. [5] Since ca. 2010, the downward trend has stopped and there has been no further significant reduction in suicide rates. [3] The peak in the 1980s was preceded by a historically low rate of 17 in the 1960s. The male-to-female gender ratio has been reduced from 6:1 in the late 19th century to about 2.5:1 today. In 1881, male suicide rate was at 42, close to 2.5 times the modern value, while female suicide rate was at 7, comparable to the modern value. [5]
The Swiss cantons with the highest suicide rates for the period 2001–2010 were Appenzell Ausserrhoden for men (37) and canton of Schaffhausen for women (10); the canton with the lowest suicide rate was Italian-speaking Ticino (male 14, female 5), consistent with lower rates in southern Europe, but still notably higher than the rate in neighbouring Italy (at 5.4 as of 2015). [6]
A statistic of suicide methods compiled for the period of 2001–2012 found that the preferred suicide method for men was by shooting (29.7%), followed by hanging (28.7%), poison (16.5%), jumping from a height (9.8%) and by train (7.9%). The statistics for women are markedly different, the most preferred method being poison (38.8%), and higher rates for jumping from a height (16.0%) and suicide by train (9.5%), but lower rates for hanging (18.5%) and shooting (3.0%). [7]
In 2014, a total of 742 assisted suicides (320 men, 422 women) had been recorded, or 1.2% of deaths in the resident population of Switzerland. This amounts to an increase of more than 250% compared to 2009; while the total suicide rate has been declining since the 1980s, assisted suicides have increased significantly since 2000. In 94% of cases, the people opting for assisted suicide were above 55 years of age, and in the majority of cases they were suffering from a terminal disease (42% cancer, 14% neurodegeneration (e.g. Parkinson's), 11% cardiovascular diseases, 10% musculoskeletal disorders). The rate was highest in the canton of Zürich (1.4% of deaths), followed by Geneva (1.3%). [3]
Assisted suicide has been legal since 1941 if performed by a non-physician without a vested interest in that individual's death. The law prohibits doctors, spouses, children, or other such related parties from directly participating in one's death.[ citation needed ] Many citizens from other countries cross over into Switzerland to end their lives. In 2011, a proposed ban of this practice of "suicide tourism" was rejected by popular vote in the canton of Zürich with a 78% majority. The laws regulating assisted suicide do not limit the practice to the terminally ill, it is only necessary that the person seeking assisted suicide does so while in full possession of their decision-making capacity (and indeed the statistics on assisted suicide show a minority of cases citing depression as relevant illness). [8] The Swiss government in 2011 nevertheless announced its intention to seek a change in its laws "to make sure it was used only as a last resort by the terminally ill". [9] Dignitas, a Swiss group that facilitates suicide, requires that patients provide specific doctor's proof and prognosis in writing specifying terminal illness. [10]
In January 2006, British doctor Anne Turner took her own life in a Zurich clinic, having developed an incurable degenerative disease. Her story was reported by the BBC, and in 2009 made into a TV film A Short Stay in Switzerland .
In July 2009, British conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, died together at a suicide clinic outside Zürich "under circumstances of their own choosing". Sir Edward was not terminally ill, but his wife was diagnosed with rapidly developing cancer. [11]
In May 2011, Canton Zurich held a referendum that asked voters whether (i) assisted suicide should be prohibited outright; and (ii) whether Dignitas and other assisted suicide providers should not admit overseas users. Zurich voters heavily rejected both bans, despite anti-euthanasia lobbying from two Swiss social conservative political parties, the Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland and Federal Democratic Union. The outright ban proposal was rejected by 84% of voters, while 78% voted to keep services open should foreign users desire them. [12]
Assisted suicide – alternately referred to as medical aid in dying – means a procedure in which people take medications to end their own lives with the help of others, usually medical professionals. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is an end of life measure for a person suffering a painful, terminal illness. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifies under the physician-assisted suicide laws for that location, the physician's assistance is usually limited to writing a prescription for a lethal dose of drugs.
The right to die is a concept based on the opinion that human beings are entitled to end their life or undergo voluntary euthanasia. Possession of the right to die is often bestowed with the understanding that a person with a terminal illness, incurable pain, or without the will to continue living should be allowed to end their own life, use assisted suicide, or decline life-prolonging treatment. The question of who, if anyone, may be empowered to make this decision is often the subject of debate.
Voluntary euthanasia is the ending of a person's life at their request in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in recent years.
The World Federation of Right to Die Societies is an international federation of associations that promote access to voluntary euthanasia. It holds regular international meetings on dying and death.
Peter Baumann was a Swiss psychiatrist who engendered controversy for conducting physician assisted suicides.
Involuntary Euthanasia is currently illegal in all 50 states of the United States. Assisted suicide is legal in 10 jurisdictions in the US: Washington, D.C. and the states of California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico, Maine, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Washington. The status of assisted suicide is disputed in Montana, though currently authorized per the Montana Supreme Court's ruling in Baxter v. Montana that "nothing in Montana Supreme Court precedent or Montana statutes [indicates] that physician aid in dying is against public policy."
Dignity in Dying is a United Kingdom nationwide campaigning organisation. It is funded by voluntary contributions from members of the public, and as of December 2010, it claimed to have 25,000 actively subscribing supporters. The organisation declares it is independent of any political, religious or other affiliations, and has the stated primary aim of campaigning for individuals to have greater choice and more control over end-of-life decisions, so as to alleviate any suffering they may be undergoing as they near the end of their life.
Dignitas is a Swiss nonprofit organization providing physician-assisted suicide to members with terminal illness or severe physical or mental illness, supported by independent Swiss doctors. By the end of 2020, they had assisted 3,248 people with suicide at home within Switzerland and at Dignitas' house/flat near Zürich. They provide advisory work on palliative care, health care advance directives, suicide attempt prevention, and legislation for right-to-die laws around the world.
The legality of euthanasia varies between countries and territories. Efforts to change government policies on euthanasia of humans in the 20th and 21st centuries have met with limited success in Western countries. Human euthanasia policies have also been developed by a variety of NGOs, most advocacy organisations although medical associations express a range of perspectives, and supporters of palliative care broadly oppose euthanasia.
Right to Die?, also known as The Suicide Tourist, is a documentary film directed by Canadian John Zaritsky about the assisted suicide of Craig Colby Ewert (1947–2006), a 59-year-old retired university professor who suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Suicide tourism, or euthanasia tourism, is the practice of potential suicide candidates travelling to a jurisdiction to die by suicide or assisted suicide which is legal in some jurisdictions, or the practice of travelling to a jurisdiction in order to obtain drugs that can aid in the process of ending one's own life.
Assisted suicide is suicide with the aid of another person. In the United States, the term "assisted suicide" is typically used to describe what proponents refer to as medical aid in dying, in which terminally ill adults are prescribed and self-administer barbiturates if they feel that they are suffering significantly. The term is often used interchangeably with physician-assisted suicide (PAS), "physician-assisted dying", "physician-assisted death", "assisted death" and "medical aid in dying" (MAiD).
Active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland, but supplying the means for dying is legal, as long as the action which directly causes death is performed by the one wishing to die. Assisted suicide in the country has been legal since 1941, and Switzerland was the first country in the world to permit any kind of assisted dying. In 2014, a total of 752 assisted suicides were performed, compared to 1,029 non-assisted suicides ; most of the assisted suicides concerned elderly people suffering from a terminal disease. In what critics have termed suicide tourism, Swiss euthanasia organisations have been widely used by foreigners. As of 2008, German citizens were 60 percent of the total number of suicides assisted by the organisation Dignitas.
Betty and George Coumbias were a Canadian married couple who sought to become the first husband and wife to complete simultaneous suicides with legal authorization. They were featured in John Zaritsky's 2007 documentary, The Suicide Tourist. Although assisted suicide was illegal in Canada, they hoped to end their lives with the approval of the government of Switzerland.
Ludwig A. Minelli is a Swiss lawyer. He is the founder of Dignitas, an organization that helps permanently ill people to end life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering. He is also the founder and general secretary of the Swiss Society for the European Convention on Human Rights.
China's suicide rates were one of the highest in the world in the 1990s. However, by 2011, China had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world. According to the World Health Organization, the suicide rate in China was 9.7 per 100,000 as of 2016. As a comparison, the suicide rate in the U.S. in 2016 was 15.3. Generally speaking, China seems to have a lower suicide rate than neighboring Korea, Russia and Japan, and it is more common among women than men and more common in the Yangtze Basin than elsewhere.
Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die is a 2011 one-off television documentary produced by KEO North for BBC Scotland on the subject of assisted death, directed and produced by Charlie Russell. It is presented by Terry Pratchett and features Peter Smedley, a 71-year-old motor neurone disease sufferer, dying by assisted death at the Swiss assisted dying organisation, Dignitas.
Women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in federal elections after a referendum in February 1971. The first federal vote in which women were able to participate was the 31 October 1971 election of the Federal Assembly. However it was not until a 1990 decision by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland that women gained full voting rights in the final Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden.
Twelve national referendums were held in Switzerland during 2012. On 11 March voters across the country were asked five questions on employment leave, second houses, building society savings, the Fixed Book Price Agreement and gambling revenues. On 17 June there were three questions on healthcare, foreign policy and home buying. On 23 September there were three on a smoking ban, secure housing in old age and music lessons at school. A final referendum was held on 25 November on the Animal Diseases Act.
Assisted suicide is the ending of one's own life with the assistance of another. Physician-assisted suicide is medical assistance in helping another person end their own life for the purpose of relieving their suffering, and voluntary euthanasia is the act of ending the life of another, also for the purpose of relieving their suffering. The phrase "assisted dying" is often used instead of physician-assisted suicide by proponents of legalisation and the media when used in the context of a medically assisted suicide for the purpose of relieving suffering. "Assisted dying" is also the phrase used by politicians when bills are proposed in parliament. Assisted suicide is illegal under English law.
