Federal Court upholds acquittal in assisted suicide case
In a public hearing, the Federal Court in Lausanne confirmed the acquittal of Pierre Beck for offences against the Narcotics Act. In 2017, the vice president of EXIT Western Switzerland helped a healthy 86-year-old woman to commit suicide.
The criminal division of the Federal Court rejected the appeal of the Geneva public prosecutor’s office by four votes to one in February 2023. The Geneva public prosecutor’s office appealed the decision of the Geneva cantonal court to the highest Swiss court.
This was the second time the Geneva judiciary had dealt with this case after the Federal Court overturned Beck’s conviction for violating the Therapeutic Products Act in December 2021.
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In 2017, the doctor had prescribed pentobarbital to an 86-year-old woman who was in good health but wanted to die together with her terminally ill husband. Pentobarbital is used in anaesthesia and as a sleeping pill. At low doses, it is used as a short-term sedative to treat insomnia and as a pre-anesthetic for surgery.
Adapted from German by DeepL/amva
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