Zurich University Hospital has revealed that a ban on assisted suicide on
its premises has been in place since the beginning of February.
Leading Swiss hospitals have been debating whether to allow assisted
suicide on their premises since Lausanne University Hospital decided in
2005 to allow assisted suicide under strict conditions from January 1,
2006.
Zurich hospital said on Thursday that the directive applied not only to
hospital personnel but also to any visitors. However assisted suicide
groups can still visit patients.
“The directive is intended to be robust and practical regarding everyday
questions,” said Georg Bosshard, head of clinical ethics at Zurich
University Hospital.
For example, when a patient’s desire to end his or her life clashes with
the hospital’s fundamental job of curing patients, the directive is
explicit in forbidding any form of assisted suicide within hospital walls.
Those wanting to die may however leave the hospital.
Patients may still receive visits from assisted suicide groups such as
Exit and Dignitas, and if they express a desire to die, they have the
right — like all patients — to a report giving medical information such as
their diagnosis and prognosis.
Christian Schwarzenegger from the Institute of Legal Medicine at Zurich
University said such a report in no way constituted participation in
suicide.
In those cases where a patient who wants to die is no longer capable of
leaving the hospital, the hospital would try to find an individual
solution, according to Urs:Martin L�tolf, head of the radio:oncology
clinic.
“The important thing is to reach a consensus with everyone involved,” he
said.
Elsewhere
In 2005 Lausanne University Hospital took the decision to permit assisted
suicide under strict conditions from January 1, 2006.
The hospital in western Switzerland said it would allow the voluntary
euthanasia group, Exit, to help terminally ill patients who are unable to
go home.
It said patients wishing to take their own lives must have expressed a
persistent wish to die, be of sound mind, suffer from an incurable disease
and carry out the final act themselves.
L�tolf pointed out that in the past six months six people had asked for
help in assisted suicide at Lausanne University Hospital and only one had
gone ahead with it ? three had backed out and two were considered not of
sound mind.
Geneva University Hospital has offered the same options to patients as
Lausanne since 2006.
Pressure
Pressure for controls on assisted suicide have been mounting in recent
years, partly because Switzerland has gained a reputation for “death
tourism”.
In October 2006 a national ethics commission recommended that there should
be more external controls in place for people using suicide assistance
organisations to end their lives.
The Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics said organised
suicide assistance should only be permitted for people suffering from
serious illnesses.
The commission noted that since there was a legal framework for assisted
suicide, it was important to make sure that organisations carrying out the
practice were properly controlled.
In June 2006 the Swiss government said legislation governing assisted
suicide in Switzerland was sufficient and it had no plans to tighten the
rules.
