Swiss Turn Away 'Suicide Tourists'

The Dignitas Clinic in Zurich, Switzerland, has provided assisted suicide to hundreds of terminally ill patients—at times, more than a quarter of them from neighboring European nations. But the Swiss government has introduced bills that could curb foreigners' use of the clinic. The new regulations would effectively draw out the process of being approved for assisted suicide, which would mean visitors would have to spend much longer in Switzerland before being allowed to use the clinic. Critics say this could drive the clinic out of business—or drive people to engage in more traditional (and more gruesome) forms of suicide. “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,” said the founder of Dignitas.