Assisted death should be discussed in Swiss schools, say young people

In Switzerland, active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland, but assisted suicide is not. APA/BARBARA GINDL

Assisted deaths have increased in Switzerland in recent years. Yet the country shies away from important related questions, according to young people who took part in a recent parliamentary "Youth Session". They called for the topic of assisted suicide to be discussed in schools.

Today, four times as many people in Switzerland aged over 85 end their own lives compared to 25 years ago. Experts predict that by 2035 every 20^th death in Switzerland will be an assisted suicide. 

Participants at this year’s session of the Youth Parliament (see infobox below) in Bern called for action on assisted deaths. In view of the current upward trend, they believe Swiss lawmakers should enact a regulatory framework without further delay. 

In this year’s session, the so-called Youth Parliament adopted a proposal for an education and awareness campaign. The idea is that assisted dying should become a topic of discussion in workshops or thematic focus weeks in Swiss schools. 

Assisted deaths – active euthanasia vs. assisted suicide

In an assisted suicide, the patient himself or herself takes a lethal dose of a drug prescribed by a physician. Active euthanasia occurs when a medical professional or another person deliberately ends a patient’s life by using lethal substances. This means, for example, that a patient with paralysed limbs who is unable to open an infusion themselves can have their life ended.

In Switzerland, active euthanasia is illegal in Switzerland, but assisted suicide is not.

There was intense discussion about one aspect of the proposal. Participants argued that the campaign should cover not only Swiss law and the emotional effects, but also the ethical issues of assisted dying. Some objected that schoolgoers might have a particular set of values imposed on them. 

An amendment to leave out the ethical aspect ultimately failed. With 138 to 12 votes, the parliamentary session forwarded its proposal unchanged to the nation’s official parliament. 

Fear of the ‘Werther effect‘

Is assisted dying a suitable topic for young people? This question was raised only marginally during the youth session in Bern. But academics have discussed this topic for years and whether public debate on suicide cases encourages copycat suicides.

American psychologist David Phillips dubbed this the “Werther effect” in reference to the romantic novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang Goethe. When Goethe, who was prone to suicidal thoughts as a young man, wrote the story as self-therapy, it caused a sensation in late-18^th-century Europe. It was also suspected of causing a fashion for suicide among young men. There are still reservations over “suicide contagion”, or waves of copycat suicides.

Meanwhile, experts in Switzerland have responded to the recent declarations of the Youth Parliament with caution. According to Anja Gysin-Maillart, co-chair of the Swiss Initiative for Suicide Prevention (Ipsilon), her members would be against anything like compulsory school-based discussion of assisted death. 

>>The 2025 Youth Session is available to watch again. Assisted suicide discussions start at 5:20am.

Suicide prevention in the classroom is a sensitive issue. “Since there is no particular legal basis here in Switzerland to regulate assisted suicide in preventive or educational contexts, we do not consider the topic suitable for the school setting,” says Gysin-Maillart. 

The organisation believes the national priority should be to draft a suicide prevention law, which would also deal with the issue of assisted suicide. 

Teachers’ federation wants limits

The Swiss Teachers Federation is also wary about the idea. Dealing with this topic in the classroom would require a clear framework, it says. This would include age-appropriate approaches, a focus on prevention, resource persons for youth in crisis, language guidelines and information for parents, as well as the use of specially trained teachers working with outside experts. 

The federation belives that the earliest the topic could find its way into the curriculum would be the first year of secondary school. Detailed discussion of the topic of assisted death would only start in the second year, aimed at (mostly) 15-year-olds. 

Young people take part in the Youth Session at the Swiss parliament in Bern on November 8. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

Uneasiness in Switzerland 

In view of such major objections, it is probable that parliamentarians will largely ignore the Youth Parliament findings and take no further action. 

The call from the Youth Session does, however, show the growing uneasiness around the country on this topic. Public discussion on assisted deaths is rare in Switzerland, most recently prompted by media coverage of the suicide capsule known as “Sarco”. This resulted in two motions being brought before parliamentExternal link. Yet lawmakers were not keen to intervene and regulate. That has been the fall-back position adopted by politicians every time the topic has come up. 

Youth Session

The Youth Session is an annual event in Switzerland, attended by around 200 young people aged between 14 and 21. During the session, which can last several days, they discuss political topics and make recommendations. The Youth Parliament holds its sessions in the House of Representatives chamber at the federal parliament building in Bern. They discuss proposals from delegates and vote to adopt or reject them.

Recommendations are forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the form of a petition. A recommendation becomes part of the national political process if and when at least one parliamentarian decides to propose it as a motion before either house of parliament. 

Swiss legislation permits assisted death but regulations are limited. Assisting suicide becomes a criminal offence only when it is done for personal advantage. Terminal illness is not a necessary condition, nor must the individual have reached majority. 

Any limitations are imposed by assisted death organisations themselves, and the medical profession. The Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences has, for example, adopted a set of guidelines for assisted suicide. One of these stipulates that the individual has to be able to make their own informed decision, and that this must come from the person themself. There needs to be irremediable suffering, and all medical alternatives must have been explored. 

Some people say it is problematic that unelected experts are determining the framework for assisted death, not the country’s lawmakers. That was one of the findings from a Youth Session paper. The document highlighted others: assisted death is now an everyday occurrence – something that inevitably weighs on the decision-making of people who depend on care. And the way in which elderly people become aware of assisted suicide also has ethical implications, as one participant in the Youth Parliament stressed. 

Trend towards a ‘suicide culture’? 

One negative consequence is the creation of a “suicide culture”External link, as former Zurich justice minister Markus Notter called it. He tried to regulate assisted death in the late 2000s, but failed.  

At that time, the federal government drafted two bills to regulate assisted death, but neither got anywhere. The Youth Parliament also took a position on the topic of assisted death.

Today, the Youth Parliament has decided not to take an official stance. But the assembled group of young people have sent a clear message: Switzerland needs to have a serious talk about assisted suicide. 

Adapted from German by Terence MacNamee/sb