Suicide tourism

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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.

Contents

Status in various countries

Cambodia

An American expatriate who set up websites offering to help people make arrangements to kill themselves in Cambodia shut the sites down in 2005, saying he hoped to avoid problems with the authorities. [1]

Mexico

A drug known as liquid pentobarbital, which is used by owners to euthanize pets, can give a person a painless death in under one hour. Due to the drug's availability at pet shops, tourists seeking to end their lives were reported to be flying from around the world to Mexico. [2] [3] [4]

Netherlands

Critics have claimed that the Dutch initiative for euthanasia will trigger a wave of "euthanasia tourism".[ citation needed ] However, a clause insisting on a well-established relationship between doctor and patient is designed to prevent this. [5]

Switzerland

Regulations were proposed to limit possibilities of legal suicide assistance for foreigners in Switzerland. [6] The law primarily targeted Dignitas, the sole organization offering assisted suicide to non-resident foreign nationals. The Swiss government rejected proposed stricter regulations in 2006, maintaining the status quo [7] as regulated by Paragraph 115 of Swiss Criminal Code.

As of 2008, 60% of all suicides assisted by the organisation Dignitas had been Germans, and between 1998 and 2018 around 1,250 German citizens (almost three times the number of any other nationality) travelled to Dignitas in Zürich, for an assisted suicide. During the same period over 400 British citizens also opted to end their life at the same clinic. [8] [9] [10] [11] The names of a few of these people are known, though most remain anonymous. [12] By November 2008, the number of British members of Dignitas had risen to 725, a number exceeded only by Swiss and German membership. [13] Given the size and population density of Europe, it is certain that there are Dignitas members in other European countries. Conservative politicians in Switzerland have repeatedly criticized suicide assistance for foreigners, branding it suicide tourism (Sterbetourismus in German).

In January 2006, British doctor Anne Turner died by suicide in a Zürich clinic having developed an incurable degenerative disease. Her story was reported by the BBC at the time with a film crew travelling to Zürich. In 2009, her story was made into a TV film, A Short Stay in Switzerland , starring Julie Walters.

In 2007, Dignitas launched an effort to gain legal permission for healthy foreigners, including married couples with suicide pacts, to end their lives in Switzerland. [14]

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. [15]

On March 2, 2010, PBS Frontline TV program in the United States showed a documentary called The Suicide Tourist which told the story of Professor Craig Ewert, his family, and Dignitas, and his decision to die by assisted suicide in Switzerland after he was diagnosed and suffering with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). [16]

In a referendum on 15 May 2011, voters in the Canton of Zürich overwhelmingly rejected calls to ban assisted suicide or to outlaw the practice for non-residents. Out of more than 278,000 ballots cast, the initiative to ban assisted suicide was rejected by 85% of voters and the initiative to outlaw it for foreigners was turned down by 78%. [17] [18] [19]

United States

Euthanasia is illegal in all 50 states but select jurisdictions have legalized physician-assisted suicide. In 1997, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act went into effect. [20] In 2008, Washington state passed their law which was then implemented in 2009. [20] Laws may only be implemented by licensed physicians based on the individual needs of qualified patients. Patients must meet state requirements to be eligible for physician-assisted suicide. [21] [22] [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted suicide</span> Suicide undertaken with aid from another person

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Nitschke</span> Australian doctor (born 1947)

Philip Haig Nitschke is an Australian humanist, author, former physician, and founder and director of the pro-euthanasia group Exit International. He campaigned successfully to have a legal euthanasia law passed in Australia's Northern Territory and assisted four people in ending their lives before the law was overturned by the Government of Australia. Nitschke was the first doctor in the world to administer a legal, voluntary, lethal injection, after which the patient activated the syringe using a computer. Nitschke states that he and his group are regularly subject to harassment by authorities. In 2015, Nitschke burned his medical practising certificate in response to what he saw as onerous conditions that violated his right to free speech, imposed on him by the Medical Board of Australia. Nitschke has been referred to in the media as "Dr Death" or "the Elon Musk of assisted suicide".

Pentobarbital (US) or pentobarbitone is a short-acting barbiturate typically used as a sedative, a preanesthetic, and to control convulsions in emergencies. It can also be used for short-term treatment of insomnia but has been largely replaced by the benzodiazepine family of drugs.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Crick</span> Australian suicide

Nancy Crick was an Australian woman who committed suicide by drinking a solution of Nembutal, while surrounded by 21 voluntary euthanasia supporters and family. Nancy was supported in her decision by euthanasia activist Dr. Philip Nitschke. Nancy's death became highly politicised after her autopsy results were leaked to the media. This was because the autopsy showed that at that the time of her death, Nancy was 'cancer free' but had an inoperable bowel condition that may have been the cause of her suicide-inducing pain.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dignity in Dying</span> UK pro-euthanasia organisation

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dignitas (Swiss non-profit organisation)</span> Swiss organisation offering assisted suicide to members

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, and suicide attempt prevention, and legislation for right-to-die laws around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exit International</span> Assisted suicide advocacy group

Exit International is an international non-profit organisation advocating legalisation of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide. It was previously known as the Voluntary Euthanasia Research Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legality of euthanasia</span>

The legality of euthanasia varies depending on the country. Efforts to change government policies on euthanasia of humans in the 20th and 21st centuries have met limited success in Western countries. Human euthanasia policies have also been developed by a variety of NGOs, most notably medical associations and advocacy organizations. As of 2023, euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain and all six states of Australia. Euthanasia was briefly legal in the Northern Territory between 1996 and 1997, but was overturned by a federal law. In 2021, a Peruvian court allowed euthanasia for a single person, Ana Estrada.

<i>The Peaceful Pill Handbook</i> 2006 book by Philip Nitschke and Fiona Stewart about voluntary suicide

The Peaceful Pill Handbook is a book setting out information on assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia. Written by the Australian doctor Philip Nitschke and lawyer Fiona Stewart, it was originally published in the U.S. in 2006. A German edition of the print book—Die Friedliche Pille—was published in 2011. A French edition—La Pilule Paisible—was published in June 2015.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted suicide in the United States</span> Medically-induced suicide with help from another person

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.

A suicide bag, also known as an exit bag or hood, is part of a euthanasia device consisting of a large plastic bag with a drawcord used to commit suicide through inert gas asphyxiation. It is usually used in conjunction with a flow of an inert gas that is lighter or less dense than air, like helium or nitrogen, which prevents the panic, sense of suffocation and struggling before unconsciousness, known as the hypercapnic alarm response caused by the presence of high carbon dioxide concentrations in the blood. This method also makes the direct cause of death difficult to trace if the bag and gas canister are removed before the death is investigated. While asphyxiation by helium can be detected at autopsy, there is currently no test that can detect asphyxiation by nitrogen. For this reason, nitrogen is commonly the preferred choice for people who do not want the cause of death established.

<i>Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die</i> 2011 television documentary

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suicide in Switzerland</span>

Switzerland had a standardised suicide rate of 10.7 per 100,000 as of 2015. The actual (non-standardised) rate was 12.5 in 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "Suicide-tourism websites shut down," USA Today (04-11-2005). Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  2. ↑ Emmott, Robin; Hernández, Magdiel; Bremer, Catherine; Chiacu, Doina (2008-06-03). "Euthanasia tourists snap up pet shop drug in Mexico". Nuevo Laredo, Mexico: Reuters. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
  3. ↑ Davies, Julie-Anne, "Nitschke DIY kit upsets British", The Australian , April 20, 2009. They asked Dr. Philip Nitschke about it. "As revealed in The Australian last month, Exit members are obtaining Nembutal from an online mail order supplier in Mexico. Others travel to Mexico and smuggle the drug home in their luggage. The kits, which will retail for $50, include a syringe that allows users to extract half a millilitre of the solution. 'Clearly, sterility doesn't matter given that death is the desired outcome', Dr Nitschke said. 'People want reassurance they've not just bought a bottle of water.'"
  4. ↑ "News briefs from home and abroad" Archived 2009-08-08 at the Wayback Machine , The International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Year 2009, Volume 23, Number 3. "Australia's Dr. Death, Dr. Philip Nitschke, has been on the road proffering his latest invention, a do-it-yourself kit to test the quality and potency of the barbiturate Nembutal. ... So Nitschke tells the elderly and not-so-elderly that the drug is both available and cheap in Mexico. But not all Mexican vendors are reputable, so his euthanasia test kit is needed to make sure that people have the real thing and the potency is truly deadly. ..." [The Australian, 4/20/09]
  5. ↑ Mercy Killing Now Legal in Netherlands
  6. ↑ Michael Leidig & Philip Sherwell, "Swiss to crack down on suicide tourism," Telegraph (14 March 2004). Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  7. ↑ Kein Gesetz gegen Sterbetourismus Archived 2009-07-20 at the Wayback Machine Neue Zürcher Zeitung
  8. ↑ "Statistiken".
  9. ↑ Hurst, Samia A; Mauron, Alex (1 February 2003). "Assisted suicide and euthanasia in Switzerland: allowing a role for non-physicians". BMJ. 326 (7383): 271–273. doi:10.1136/bmj.326.7383.271. PMC   1125125 . PMID   12560284.
  10. ↑ Wenn Sie das trinken, gibt es kein Zurück Tagesspiegel.de Retrieved April 12, 2008
  11. ↑ "'One person a fortnight' travels to Dignitas from Britain to end their lives". Guardian. August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ "My brother chose to end his suffering". BBC News. 2008-10-29. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  13. ↑ "More Britons seeking suicide help". BBC News. 2008-11-17. Retrieved 2010-05-24.
  14. ↑ Jacob M. Appel, "Next: Assisted Suicide for Healthy People," The Huffington Post (16 July 2009). Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  15. ↑ Lundin, Leigh (2009-08-02). "YOUthanasia". Criminal Brief. Retrieved 2009-08-27.
  16. ↑ "The Suicide Tourist", PBS Frontline, March 2, 2010.
  17. ↑ "Zurich votes to keep 'suicide tourism' alive". The Daily Telegraph. London. 2011-05-15.
  18. ↑ "Zurich voters keep "suicide tourism" alive," CBS News (15 May 2011). Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  19. ↑ "Zurich voters keep 'suicide tourism' alive". Fox News. 2011-05-15.
  20. 1 2 "Death with Dignity: the Laws & How to Access Them". Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  21. ↑ "Oregon" . Retrieved 8 October 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  22. ↑ Compassion & Choices of Washington. "Home - Compassion & Choices of Washington". Compassion & Choices of Washington. Archived from the original on 4 December 2010. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  23. ↑ "Physician Assisted Death (PAD)". Vermont Ethics Network. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
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