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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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800 Brits Sign Up for Suicide at Swiss Clinic

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(Newser) – Some 800 Brits have signed up to commit suicide at a controversial Swiss clinic, reports the Guardian. The terminally ill patients have become members of Dignitas so they can travel to Zurich when the time comes to take a drug overdose. The number of British residents crossing the border for assisted suicide continues to climb, triggering heightened debate in Britain about a nationwide ban on the practice.

"There is clearly a growing demand in this country for a well regulated, legal right for people with terminal illness, who are mentally competent, to end their life if they choose," said a spokeswoman for the British euthanasia advocacy organization Dignity for Dying.

Ludwig A. Minelli is a founder of Dignitas, a Zurich-based organization dedicated to the cause of
Ludwig A. Minelli is a founder of Dignitas, a Zurich-based organization dedicated to the cause of "dignified dying."   (AP Photo/Keystone, Gaetan Bally, File)
Germans, Britons, French, Americans and others come to this Dignitas clinic in Switzerland because of the small Alpine nation's reputation as a trouble-free place for foreigners to end their lives.
Germans, Britons, French, Americans and others come to this Dignitas clinic in Switzerland because of the small Alpine nation's reputation as a trouble-free place for foreigners to end their lives.   (AP Photo/Keystone, Alessandro Della Bella, File)
The assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic of British resident Craig Ewert, 59, was broadcast on British television last year.
The assisted suicide at a Swiss clinic of British resident Craig Ewert, 59, was broadcast on British television last year.   (AP Photo/Sky Real Lives/PA)
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7 comments
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kokuaguy
Jun 1, 09 2:00 AM CDT
As American women at one time left the country in order to exercise the right to terminate a pregnancy, Brits and others will find ways to a dignified, humane escape from unbearable pain and the loss of their dignity and self respect. Reply
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+3
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TjaiKneeGrow
Jun 3, 09 6:57 AM CDT
And American women might have to yet again, I fear that Sotomayor will surprise us all in the upcoming abortion case.
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0
Thinker
Jun 1, 09 6:54 AM CDT
Why would anyone even want to deny the right of someone else, someone in constant pain and suffering, to end his or her own life? We in America, and in the churches, are evil barbarians to force suffering on someone else in the name of some god. Reply
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+3
Reader64481089
Jun 1, 09 10:02 AM CDT
Thinker, I think the answer to your question may be in the fact the medical INDUSTRY makes one nice chunk of change on the keeping alive of terminal patients, I watched three uncles and one aunt die due to cancer and all the while the medical community kept them full of narcotics while "treating" them for the last two years of their lives. There is no dignity in that type suffering and I would have rather put a gun to my own head than go out like that. Reply
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+2
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SBS
Jun 1, 09 2:23 PM CDT
Thinker, as someone who has also witnessed relatives die slowly I could not agree more that there should be a way for them to painlessly die if the choose to do so.
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+1

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