If you're in the mood to read about something intriguing yet eerie, check out this article:
Below, I share my opinion regarding this controversial practice.
Hastening Death or Fostering Dignity?
Assisted suicide with Dignitas in Switzerland has positive and negative implications. In Switzerland, there are "virtually no definitive regulations on assisted suicide" (Dickinson and Leming, 2016). This relaxed legislation makes is easier for someone who wants to end their life to travel to Switzerland and partake in assisted suicide. Assisted suicide can provide someone a feeling of dignity and control over their death, and can end suffering if they are faced with daily pain.
However, having to travel to Switzerland (especially if terminally ill) can pose many challenges in itself. Travel in general is already stressful in normal, everyday life. In the case of someone who is seeking to end their life, it must be difficult to face the reality that they will never be returning home. Also, the idea of traveling in a state of illness or disease can be discouraging. For friends and family of loved ones traveling to Switzerland for "suicide tourism," it must be extremely difficult as well. If they can't travel with them, they don't have the ability to be with them at the time of passing. Instead, end-of-life support would have to be in the form of "letting go," respecting, and coming to terms with their loved one's decision to end their life.
In the article, ”Going to Switzerland for Assisted Suicide is Getting So Popular It's Become a Euphemism," it was also noted that "many Swiss are suspect of Dignitas' profit margins and its founder's zeal for death" (Dickinson and Leming, 2016). The fact that the founder of Dignitas, Ludwig Minelli, has been filmed using helium gas instead of the standard lethal narcotic for assisted suicide is curious, and may make prospective suicide tourists wary of the decision to use Dignitas. The same relaxed legislation that allows Dignitas to provide services to patients from around the world may also pose dangers to clients if Dignitas' morals aren't in tune.
References
Beck, J. (2014, August 27). 'going to Switzerland' is a euphemism for assisted suicide. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/going-to-switzerland-is-a-euphemism-for-assisted-suicide/379182/
Comments