Switzerland Takes on 'Suicide Tourism'

Hundreds of terminally ill people have been helped in ending their lives at Switzerland's Dignitas clinic, which offers a fatal combination of drugs to its customers. But with foreigners flocking to the country to make use of its services, Swiss officials are considering regulating the death business more tightly or shutting it down altogether to avoid harm to the state's reputation, the Times of London reports. Under new laws being considered, patients would have to present proof from two doctors' that their illness was terminal and that their mental state was sound. Dignitas' founder, Ludwig Minelli, is less than pleased about the proposal. “By cutting off assisted suicide for chronically or psychologically ill people who are capable of informed choice the government will promote lonely suicides on train tracks,” he told the Times.