Editing Assisted suicide (section)

===Switzerland===
{{Main|Euthanasia in Switzerland}}

Though it is illegal to assist a patient in dying in some circumstances, there are others where there is no offence committed.<ref name="UZ">{{cite journal| vauthors = Schwarzenegger C, Summers SJ | date=3 February 2005| title=Hearing with the Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill| journal=House of Lords Hearings| publisher=[[University of Zürich]] Faculty of Law| location=Zürich| url=http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/schwarzenegger/publikationen/assisted-suicide-Switzerland.pdf| access-date=1 July 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707004544/http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/schwarzenegger/publikationen/assisted-suicide-Switzerland.pdf| archive-date=7 July 2011| url-status=dead}} (PDF)</ref> The relevant provision of the Swiss Criminal Code<ref name="SC">{{cite journal |date=23 June 1989| title=Inciting and assisting someone to commit suicide (Verleitung und Beihilfe zum Selbstmord) |journal=Swiss Criminal Code| pages=Article 115 |publisher=Süisse| language=de |location=Zürich}}</ref> refers to "a person who, for selfish reasons, incites someone to commit suicide or who assists that person in doing so will, if the suicide was carried out or attempted, be sentenced to a term of imprisonment (''Zuchthaus'') of up to 5 years or a term of imprisonment (''Gefängnis'')."

A person brought to court on a charge could presumably avoid conviction by proving that they were "motivated by the good intentions of bringing about a requested death for the purposes of relieving "[[suffering]]" rather than for "selfish" reasons.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Whiting R | title = A Natural Right to Die: Twenty-Three Centuries of Debate | year = 2002 | location = Westport, Connecticut | pages = [https://archive.org/details/naturalrighttodi00whit/page/n56 46] | isbn = 978-0-313-31474-2 | url =https://archive.org/details/naturalrighttodi00whit| url-access = limited }}</ref> In order to avoid conviction, the person has to prove that the deceased knew what he or she was doing, had the capacity to make the decision, and had made an "earnest" request, meaning they asked for death several times. The person helping also has to avoid actually doing the act that leads to death, lest they be convicted under Article 114: Killing on request (Tötung auf Verlangen) –
A person who, for decent reasons, especially compassion, kills a person on the basis of his or her serious and insistent request, will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment (Gefängnis). For instance, it should be the suicide subject who actually presses the syringe or takes the pill, after the helper had prepared the setup.<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Schwarzenegger C, Summers S |title=Hearing with the Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill|location=House of Lords, Zurich|date=3 February 2005|url=http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/schwarzenegger/publikationen/assisted-suicide-Switzerland.pdf|access-date=1 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707004544/http://www.rwi.uzh.ch/lehreforschung/alphabetisch/schwarzenegger/publikationen/assisted-suicide-Switzerland.pdf|archive-date=7 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> This way the country can criminalise certain controversial acts, which many of its people would oppose, while legalising a narrow range of assistive acts for some of those seeking help to end their lives.

Switzerland is the only country in the world which permits assisted suicide for non-resident foreigners,<ref>{{cite web| vauthors = Bondolfi S |url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/why-assisted-suicide-is--normal--in-switzerland-/45924614|title=Why assisted suicide is 'normal' in Switzerland|website=swissinfo.ch|date=24 July 2020|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=25 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925060153/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/why-assisted-suicide-is--normal--in-switzerland-/45924614|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="assistedsuicide.org"/> causing what some critics have described as [[suicide tourism]]. Between 1998 and 2018 around 1250 German citizens (almost three times the number of any other nationality) travelled to Dignitas in Zurich, Switzerland, for an assisted suicide. During the same period over 400 British citizens also opted to end their life at the same clinic.<ref name=Statistiken/><ref name=pmid12560284/>

In May 2011, Zurich held a referendum that asked voters whether (i) assisted suicide should be prohibited outright; and (ii) whether Dignitas and other assisted suicide providers should not admit overseas users. Zurich voters heavily rejected both bans, despite anti-euthanasia lobbying from two Swiss [[social conservative]] political parties, the [[Evangelical People's Party of Switzerland]] and [[Federal Democratic Union]]. The outright ban proposal was rejected by 84% of voters, while 78% voted to keep services open should overseas users require them.<ref>{{cite news |title=Swiss vote backs assisted suicide |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13405376 |work=BBC News |date=15 May 2011 |access-date=23 April 2020 |archive-date=5 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205233648/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13405376 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Switzerland non-physician-assisted suicide is legal, the assistance mostly being provided by volunteers, whereas in Belgium and the Netherlands, a physician must be present. In Switzerland, the doctors are primarily there to assess the patient's decision capacity and prescribe the lethal drugs. Additionally, unlike cases in the United States, a person is not required to have a terminal illness but only the capacity to make decisions. About 25% of people in Switzerland who take advantage of assisted suicide do not have a terminal illness but are simply old or "tired of life".<ref name="Andorno 246–253">{{cite journal | vauthors = Andorno R | title = Nonphysician-assisted suicide in Switzerland | journal = Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics | volume = 22 | issue = 3 | pages = 246–253 | date = July 2013 | pmid = 23632255 | doi = 10.1017/S0963180113000054 | url = https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/92579/1/Andorno_Cambridge_Quarterly_3_2013.pdf | access-date = 23 April 2020 | archive-date = 9 December 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211209050339/https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/92579/1/Andorno_Cambridge_Quarterly_3_2013.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref>