Suicide Tourism

Ayanna Haskell
October 30, 2009
1:00 pm

Switzerland is coming up with a law that will limit or ban the practice of assisted suicide to the terminally ill. It has been called “suicide tourism”. People travel to Switzerland from their homes to have help in committing suicide. Those suffering from chronic disease or a mental illness will no longer be able to have someone assist them in committing suicide. The Federal Council opposes. They believe if it is in the interest of the patient then assisted suicide is okay. But the Council also says that the increased assisted suicides are pushing the boundaries of the law and now the government needs to step in and give further instruction has to how the rules and guidelines should work. A man age 23 ended his life because he was paralyzed from the neck down after an accident. He had a chronic illness, but not something he would die from. There will be two proposals: one being the the person committing suicide is doing it for themselves and the person helping them is not doing it for personal gain; two being the person must be suffering from a terminal illness not chronic or mental. Without these two proposals, one can not commit assisted suicide or else you will be prosecuted.

Assisted suicide is usually done my doctors, usually not in current practice. They provide those who want to commit suicide with drugs to stop the heart but make it easy and painless. I saw a case like this on Law and Order. The nurse who helped her former patient commit suicide was prosecuted and found guilty of manslaughter. They said she had something to gain from the death. I believe if someone is truly terminally ill, then let the disease or illness take its course and look like a champion for going through it. Suicide to me is an easy way out, there are other ways to solve problems.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/29/assisted.suicide.switzerland/index.html