Politics
Monday November 4, 2002
FIRST BRITISH "DEATH TOURIST" REPORTED
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ZURICH, November 4, 2002 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A 77-year-old British man with
terminal throat cancer was taken to Zurich by his own son and daughter to become the first British citizen to kill himself with the aid of the Dignitas assisted suicide group. In the past four years, Dignitas has facilitated 134 such suicides, mostly by foreigners travelling to Switzerland for that purpose, a phenomenon known as "death tourism."
The London Observer's account reads like a horror novel. The elderly man arrived in Zurich on October 23 and was taken to a small hotel, where he met Ludwig Minelli, the Swiss lawyer who runs Dignitas. He was then taken to a Dignitas-affiliated "doctor" who determined that he was in "a fit mental state to make the decision." It was then arranged that, two days later, a small suburban flat rented by Dignitas would be the scene of his suicide by means of drinking a barbiturate that would induce a brief and fatal coma.
Minelli said: "The man was very calm, very peaceful ... Clearly, he had thought about this course of action very hard before embarking upon it." Dignitas provides the service for "free," using membership fees of about $25 per person to subsidize clients.
The family may now face charges because it is illegal in Britain to help someone commit suicide. Meanwhile some Swiss officials don't like the negative publicity. Zurich public prosecutor Andreas Brunner said: "Death tourism is a very touchy subject. What if someone has psychological problems? What if they have an illness which it turns out, is actually curable?"
To read Observer coverage see:
http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,825126,00.html
For previous LifeSite coverage see:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/aug/02081302.html
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