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Neighbor's Complaints Succeed in Evicting Dignitas from Residence

By Elizabeth O'Brien

ZURICH, Switzerland, July 17, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Swiss assisted-suicide group Dignitas has been evicted from its operation site in a suburban area due to growing complaints from neighbors.

For nine years the assisted-suicide clinic at Gertrudstrasse 84 received people who wanted to kill themselves, Spiegel News reports. The organization took up two apartments of the apartment block; but recently the owner cancelled their lease because residents were horrified by the stream of body bags that were carried out on the elevator and are frustrated by the police and ambulances that constantly come to the door.

The landlady has given Dignitas until September to find a new residence. The eviction is especially significant, reports Spiegel, because the landlady is a cousin of Ludwig Minelli, the head and primary launcher of Dignitas.

55-year old resident Gloria Sonny started the eviction movement, gathering signatures to petition against Dignitas. She told Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung that the place had become a "house of death." Last year Sonny was also quoted in UK's Telegraph, "We call it the 'House of Horrors'. This is meant to be a residential flat but some days you'd think it was a morgue."

She also noted that not all of the people who came with a one-way ticket were old. She said, "The look in their eyes haunts me, particularly if they are young."

Other residents complained that their children were constantly exposed to the dying and dead bodies. One woman was quoted in the Guardian Unlimited, saying that she changed her household chores in order not to "bump into a corpse while I'm taking out the rubbish."

According to Swiss law, those who want to kill themselves first obtain a confirmation slip from a doctor and then receive a prescription for the drug sodium pentobarbital. They drink it within the building and die under the "supervision" of Dignitas staff.
 
Earlier this year, the Swiss High Court ruled in a suit filed by Dignitas that the mentally ill also have a "right" to assisted suicide. As Dignitas head Ludwig Minelli stated at a convention last year, "We are persuaded that the right to end one's life is a guaranteed human right."

According to Spiegel, since Dignitas was launched in 1998 it has been responsible for 700 deaths. Over half of those who have committed suicide in the facility are from Germany. The euthanasia regulations are stricter in Germany, but not punished by authorities. At present, euthanasia is also legal in both Belgium and the Netherlands.

Read related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Mentally Ill have a Right to Assisted Suicide-Swiss High Court
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07020206.html

Switzerland Refuses to Alter Assisted Suicide Law to Nix Death Tourism
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060210.html

Swiss Lure Suicide Victims: Euthanasia Administered Within 24 Hours
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/may/04052509.html

Inquest Opens into Couple's Double Suicide Death at Swiss Dignitas Facility
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04062210.html

Swiss Euthanasia-Providing Group Branches Out to Germany
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/oct/05100506.html

Neighbors Complain Swiss Euthanasia 'Clinic' Parade of Dead Bodies Disturbing
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060807.html

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