antiquity
01-21-2003, 10:49 AM
Swiss Assisted Suicide Clinic Draws Many
By CLARE NULLIS
.c The Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) - Shortly after 3 p.m. Monday, a crippled former car worker from England took an overdose of barbiturates prepared by a Swiss doctor and became the latest person to commit suicide with the aid of the right-to-die society Dignitas.
Reginald Crew, a 74-year-old with a motor neuron disease, joined a growing list of foreigners with a one-way ticket to Switzerland. Zurich, a city usually associated with bustling banks, expensive shopping streets and chocolate, is gaining a reputation as the final destination for those weary of life and in pain.
Although Swiss authorities are increasingly unhappy at the headlines likening Zurich to a city of death, their powers are limited by a loophole in Swiss laws that allows trained counselors - they don't have to be medical doctors - to help with suicide.
Crew, from the city of Liverpool, was accompanied by his wife and daughter as he took his last breath in a small Zurich apartment. He had repeatedly expressed a wish to die, but assisted suicide is not allowed in Britain.
``Mr. Crew died peacefully and painlessly, just like all our other patients,'' Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli told The Associated Press.
There are a number of such groups in Switzerland, but Dignitas is the only one to accept foreigners, and the vast majority of the organization's 2,350 members are from abroad.
``From America to New Zealand,'' said Minelli, a lawyer who was on the board of Switzerland's biggest right-to-die society, Exit, before setting up Dignitas in 1998 with the motto: ``Live With Dignity, Die With Dignity.''
Crew was the 146th person to commit suicide with the group's aid. About 75 people committed suicide last year with the organization's help, up from 50 the year before. Minelli expects a further increase this year.
Membership costs a minimum of $18 per year, according to one's salary, but there is no further charge for assisted suicide.
The organization says it only helps people die who are terminally ill and have repeatedly expressed the wish to end their suffering.
Crew told British newspapers last month that he regarded Dignitas as ``the only chance I have left.''
``Even getting up in the morning is like running a four-minute mile and I am sick of it. It is killing my family to look after me and it is killing me to have to live like this. I just want to be taken from this earth.''
Suicide is legal in Britain, but helping someone else commit suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Netherlands and Belgium are now the only countries that allow euthanasia for the incurably ill. But the law in both countries presupposes a long doctor-patient relationship and requires patients be legal residents.
In the United States, the state of Oregon is alone in allowing physician-assisted suicide, but this is under constant legal challenge.
Under existing Swiss legislation, counselors or physicians are allowed to prepare the fatal dose of barbiturates, but not pass it to the terminally ill patient or put the glass to their lips.
After each death, the police are summoned.
Minelli said a Dignitas doctor verified that Crew was mentally competent to make a decision on ending his life.
``It's important work to help people in despair and need,'' he said. ``I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, but I am doing my duty.''
01/20/03 15:43 EST
By CLARE NULLIS
.c The Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) - Shortly after 3 p.m. Monday, a crippled former car worker from England took an overdose of barbiturates prepared by a Swiss doctor and became the latest person to commit suicide with the aid of the right-to-die society Dignitas.
Reginald Crew, a 74-year-old with a motor neuron disease, joined a growing list of foreigners with a one-way ticket to Switzerland. Zurich, a city usually associated with bustling banks, expensive shopping streets and chocolate, is gaining a reputation as the final destination for those weary of life and in pain.
Although Swiss authorities are increasingly unhappy at the headlines likening Zurich to a city of death, their powers are limited by a loophole in Swiss laws that allows trained counselors - they don't have to be medical doctors - to help with suicide.
Crew, from the city of Liverpool, was accompanied by his wife and daughter as he took his last breath in a small Zurich apartment. He had repeatedly expressed a wish to die, but assisted suicide is not allowed in Britain.
``Mr. Crew died peacefully and painlessly, just like all our other patients,'' Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli told The Associated Press.
There are a number of such groups in Switzerland, but Dignitas is the only one to accept foreigners, and the vast majority of the organization's 2,350 members are from abroad.
``From America to New Zealand,'' said Minelli, a lawyer who was on the board of Switzerland's biggest right-to-die society, Exit, before setting up Dignitas in 1998 with the motto: ``Live With Dignity, Die With Dignity.''
Crew was the 146th person to commit suicide with the group's aid. About 75 people committed suicide last year with the organization's help, up from 50 the year before. Minelli expects a further increase this year.
Membership costs a minimum of $18 per year, according to one's salary, but there is no further charge for assisted suicide.
The organization says it only helps people die who are terminally ill and have repeatedly expressed the wish to end their suffering.
Crew told British newspapers last month that he regarded Dignitas as ``the only chance I have left.''
``Even getting up in the morning is like running a four-minute mile and I am sick of it. It is killing my family to look after me and it is killing me to have to live like this. I just want to be taken from this earth.''
Suicide is legal in Britain, but helping someone else commit suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
The Netherlands and Belgium are now the only countries that allow euthanasia for the incurably ill. But the law in both countries presupposes a long doctor-patient relationship and requires patients be legal residents.
In the United States, the state of Oregon is alone in allowing physician-assisted suicide, but this is under constant legal challenge.
Under existing Swiss legislation, counselors or physicians are allowed to prepare the fatal dose of barbiturates, but not pass it to the terminally ill patient or put the glass to their lips.
After each death, the police are summoned.
Minelli said a Dignitas doctor verified that Crew was mentally competent to make a decision on ending his life.
``It's important work to help people in despair and need,'' he said. ``I wouldn't say I'm proud of it, but I am doing my duty.''
01/20/03 15:43 EST