Deliverance for the dying and their partners too
The founder of controversial Swiss
assisted-suicide clinic Dignitas, Ludwig Minelli, has said that anyone whose
terminally ill partner commits suicide should also be assisted in dying – even
if they are in perfect physical health. Minelli wants the drug prescribed to
his clients to be available to partners of patients who suffer dementia. Under
present Swiss law it is only legal to assist the terminally ill in dying.

He said: “A change in the law is required
to give dementia sufferers and their families more opportunities. The partner
should be allowed to have a prescription for these drugs even when they are not
terminally ill. In such cases the partners are often a similar age and one does
not want to remain without the other.”

The human rights lawyer and activist spoke
after a case last fortnight in which a 64-year-old man strangled his wife of 30
years who was affected by Alzheimer’s. He described the act as one “of
desperation”. Zurich public prosecutor Andreas Brunner denied Mr Minelli’s
proposal for the proposal to be widened. He said: “In my view, no change in the
law should be sought.”

Minelli has previously argued that healthy people should be granted
the right to end their lives at Dignitas and other suicide clinics. Last year he
said that assisted suicide should
be made available “on demand”. He said that suicide was not just for the dying,
but “a marvellous possibility given to a human being”. ~ Daily Mail,
Oct 19

Jared Yee
assisted suicide
Dignitas
Switzerland

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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