Exit to help mentally ill to die
Exit, one of four organisations offering assisted suicide in Switzerland, says it will no longer rule out granting its services to the mentally ill.
The association imposed a moratorium on assisted suicide for psychiatric patients in 1999, following a barrage of criticism.
Exit said on Thursday that it had decided to soften its stance on offering voluntary euthanasia to the mentally ill, provided that the patient was capable of taking a rational decision to do so.
It added that an official psychiatric assessment of the person would also be required.
Exit, which with 50,000 members is Switzerland’s largest assisted suicide organisation, said that it had reconsidered its 1999 decision following an external report into the matter.
The report, which was carried out by experts in the field, concluded that there were many psychiatric patients who were able to make rational decisions and, therefore, should have the same rights to assistance as anyone else, said Exit in a statement.
But the organisation added that it would not be granting its services to people whose wish to die was part of their mental illness.
Liberal
Switzerland has relatively liberal laws on assisted suicide, stipulating that a person can only be prosecuted if they are acting out of self-interest.
Four organisations offer assisted suicide services, but up until now, only the Zurich-based Dignitas has granted voluntary euthanasia to the mentally ill. Dignitas has also caused controversy by offering its services to foreigners.
Recent studies show that Switzerland has the greatest number of cases of assisted suicide in Europe.
A report by Zurich University last year found that seven out of ten terminally ill people in Switzerland had ended their lives through different types of euthanasia.
But the House of Representatives rejected the decriminalisation of active euthanasia two years ago.
swissinfo with agencies
Exit was founded in Zurich in 1982.
It counts 50,000 members.
A-political and nondenominational, Exit assists people who, because of incurable disease, suffering or handicap, wish to die.
While Swiss law prohibits killing a person on request, it tolerates assisted suicide where the act is committed by the patient and the helper has no direct interest.
In Europe, only the Netherlands and Belgium permit taking the life of a person who wishes to die.
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