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800 Brits Sign Up for Suicide at Swiss Clinic

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 1, 2009 1:27 AM CDT
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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 dignified dying.
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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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 4 comments
Doctor-Zaius
Jun 2, 2009 12:44 PM CDT
Not one comment or vote disagreeing with this.
Thinker
Jun 1, 2009 11:54 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.
SBS
Jun 1, 2009 7:23 AM 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.

 
suicide • health • politics • assisted suicide • Switzerland • Dignitas • Zurich • Britain

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