Every year, between 200 and 300 UK nationals come to Switzerland to die. Some of their families are accusing organisers of helping loved ones take their own lives even though if they don’t have any serious medical reasons.
There are several assisted dying organisations in Switzerland, but the one that has sparked the criticism by British families is Pegasos, located in the Solothurn community of Roderis/Nunningen.
According to a report by the RTS public broadcaster, a number of British families have accused this group of helping their loved ones die “without a proper medical justification.”
Furthermore, relatives of the deceased have denounced “rushed procedures and a lack of oversight”: some deaths were reportedly arranged in a matter of hours, sometimes even without adequate verification or proper information for families.
Information by text message
RTS interviewed several families, including a London resident Judith Hamilton, whose son Alastair, 47, had simply told her he was going on vacation to Paris.
A few days later, the police discovered that he had actually flown to Switzerland to end his life, with the help of Pegasos, even though – according to his mother – he only suffered from stomach problems, which were not terminal or life-threatening (those criteria are, however, no longer applied – read more about this below).
And in early September, a 58-year-old woman also secretly traveled from the UK to Solothurn, to die at Pegasos. Her family only discovered this after her death, when they received a text message to this effect.
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‘Minimise the stress’
In response, Pegasus management said its service “is very efficient,” aiming to “minimise the stress and difficulty of coming from a foreign country, which is already complicated in itself, but without all the complex paperwork. It’s very simplified, very efficient, but it scrupulously complies with Swiss law.”
They added that all medical documents “are meticulously checked, and very thorough psychiatric and medical assessment of patients and conducted.”
As far as letting their loved ones know of their decision, the organisation now will, in view of the criticism, “apply a very strict rule: anyone coming to Switzerland to die must have already informed their family.”
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Terminal condition not a requirement
While for many years, only people suffering from medically-certified terminal conditions qualified for death assistance, rules have been relaxed over the years, to include disabilities and suffering.
While some organisations, like Exit, apply stricter criteria to the notion of illness and suffering — for instance, the patient has no chance of recovery, or lives with chronic and unbearable pain or disability — Swiss legislation in this matter doesn’t specifically apply to physical illness.
Mental distress, also defined as “existential suffering”, while decidedly a bit of a grey area that lacks definition, also falls under the “suffering” category.
In this respect, therefore, Pegasus hasn’t broken any rules.
According to a report co-authored by two Geneva medical ethicists, “suffering is surely not limited to disease status. If we consider relief from suffering to be one of the central considerations for assisted suicide, it is reasonable to think that the acceptability of a request should not exclusively depend on the diagnosis of an incurable or terminal disease”.
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What does the law say?
Switzerland has had an assisted dying law on the books since 1942 — a constitutional right of each person to determine the manner of his or her death.
While many people across the world may be shocked by the medical community legally helping someone to die, in Switzerland it is considered a legitimate way to end one’s life.
(One important distinction to make is between assisted dying and euthanasia. The former requires the person in question to administer the lethal drug themselves, while euthanasia is where a doctor takes this final step. Euthanasia is not permitted in Switzerland).
While article 115 of the Swiss penal code prohibits assisted death for “self-serving reasons,” helping someone die for non-selfish reasons is not specifically prohibited.
READ ALSO: What you should know about assisted dying in Switzerland
