Euthanasia in Switzerland

In Switzerland, a total of 742 assisted suicides (320 men, 422 women) was recorded for 2014, compared to 1,029 non-assisted suicides (754 men, 275 women); most of the assisted suicides concerned elderly people suffering from a terminal disease.

Euthanasia organisations have been widely used by foreigners, in what critics have termed suicide tourism. As of 2008, 60% of the total number of suicides assisted by the organisation Dignitas had been Germans.

The Swiss Civil Code of 1942 outlaws "incitement or assistance to suicide from selfish motives" (Art. 115). Any active role in voluntary euthanasia ("manslaughter on request") is also outlawed, even if committed from "respectable motives" such as mercy killings (Art. 114). However, by omission, assisted suicide from non-selfish motives remains legal. For example, lethal drugs may be prescribed as long as the recipient takes an active role in the drug administration, but active euthanasia (such as the act of administering a lethal injection) is not legal. All forms of active euthanasia like administering lethal injection remain prohibited in Switzerland. Swiss law only allows providing means to commit suicide, and reasons for doing so must must not be based on self-interest (such as monetary gain). Based on this legal situation, non-profit organisations administering life-ending medicine were first established in Switzerland in the 1980s.

Article 115 of the Swiss Criminal Code reads:

This liberal regulation of assisted suicide also permits the assistance of voluntary euthanasia for non-resident foreigners, which has led to the phenomenon of "suicide tourism".

When an assisted suicide is declared, a police inquiry may be started. Since no crime has been committed in the absence of a selfish motive, these are mostly open and shut cases. Prosecution can occur if doubts are raised about the patient's competence to make an autonomous choice, or about the motivation of anyone involved in assisting the suicide. While there is no regulation on permissible reasons for the suicide, the major Swiss non-profit organisations dedicated to assisted suicide may require that a terminal illness has been diagnosed.

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