British client: Reg Crew, pictured with his wife Win, died in 2003
Posted on 11/08/2007 7:56:46 PM PST by Stoat
British client: Reg Crew, pictured with his wife Win, died in 2003
Dignitas has formed mobile teams which meet those who want to kill themselves at the location of their choice.
An official and a nurse then hand the client a lethal dose of chemicals which is taken intravenously or orally.
They later call police to report the suicide.
The move comes after the Swiss-based organisation lost its lease on the Zurich flat where hundreds of people, including several Britons, had gone to die.
Other residents in the building had complained about dead bodies being taken out through the lift they used and a fleet of ambulances or hearses parked below.
Dignitas had wanted to book a suite of hotel rooms to carry out the assisted deaths but withdrew when hotel groups threatened legal action if clients checked in to die.
Now it has formed the mobile killing service, details of which emerged after police confirmed that two German men aged 50 and 65 had been helped to die in cars parked in woodland not far from Zurich.
Both were given a concoction of chemicals which they voluntarily drank - which means there is no possibility of prosecuting the suicide group.
And police said it was unlikely any action would be taken as those who wished to commit suicide were "entitled to choose the place and the time of their deaths".
Dignitas was founded in 1998 by Swiss lawyer Ludwig Minelli to help those with incurable physical and mental illnesses to die with the aid of doctors and nurses.
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'Suicide squad' : Accompanying clients who want to kill themselves at the location of their choice.
In Switzerland it is legal to assist a suicide, but only Dignitas will take clients from abroad.
Some 753 foreigners visited its offices and ended their lives with an overdose after paying £3,000.
Swiss law specifies that the agencies that help arrange the deaths do it for "honourable reasons" and cannot profit from the death, aside from charging basic fees.
Dignitas claims £3,000 is what it costs to organise the death.
There is no limit on the ages, which have ranged from 20 to 95.
Its office was closed on September 27 and a spokesman said it had been left with no option but to set up mobile teams after failing to find another property.
Those wishing to end their lives meet a Dignitas representative several days before the date they have chosen to die to pay the fee and discuss the poison they will use.
Dignitas insists it turns down some who are not terminally ill or who display signs of instability.
A Dignitas official and nurse arrange to meet them at the place they have chosen to commit suicide.
The client drives themselves or is driven by family to the meeting point.
Some may chose to die in their own homes and for foreigners there is the option of a hotel or hire car.
The Dignitas staff then prepare a lethal dose of a painless barbiturate and watch to see that it is properly administered.
Once the person is dead, the Dignitas staff check for lack of vital signs, fill out paperwork and call the police.
Dignitas first gained prominence in Britain in January 2003 when it assisted the suicide of 74-year-old Reg Crew, who had motor neurone disease.
The event that was filmed for ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald.
Other Britons include Bob and Jenny Stokes, who committed suicide together in the Zurich apartment after 25 years of marriage.
Relatives claimed that despite having chronic health problems, the couple had not been terminally ill.
The last known British person to use Dignitas was Carol Kates, a 55-yearold nurse from Lincolnshire, who took a cocktail of drugs in May.
Dignitas appears to be particularly popular in Germany, receiving so many requests for its services that it has up an office in the country.
But some politicians and officials there have condemned the organisation. Josef Hecken, the justice minister in Germany's Saarland region, called the latest Dignitas way of dying "outrageous".
That may well be true, but I have not seen this as a real-world reality of what most people actually do.
Desperately unhappy and / or gravely sick people typically don't spend a lot of time researching on the internet in my experience, but that's just me.
there is no reason for any terminally ill person in the 21st century to die in pain
Again, I regret that this is at variance with my experience after over two decades in prehospital emergency medicine and considerable contact with hospice nurses and end-of life scenarios.
However, your experience may be different and I certainly don't pretend to be an expert on death..
Our Sunday Visitor, May 20, 2007 had an interview with Providence Sister Karin Dufault, a registered nurse and executive director of the Supportive Care Coalition based in Eugene. She said the political movement for suicide-oriented “treatment” in Oregon had one paradoxical effect: It has spurred palliative-care providers into greater action to strengthen positive, nonviolent alternatives.
“What is now the 16-member Supportive Care Coalitioncame into being in 1994, when six Oregon Catholic health ministries became deeply concerned about the underlying causes behind the push for legalized suicide,” said Sister Dufault. “We were determined to address the public’s expressed fears of poorly managed pain, unbearable suffering at the end of life and fear of burdening their families.”
“The coalition began by listening carefully to what people had to say abut the effect of failing health on their lives, and particularly about how well or poorly the health care system met their needs.”
...Looking back on her long experience in oncology and gerontology, Sister Dufault agreed that highly effective treatments exist for pain and other physical symptoms of terminal illness. “We know that we can successfully address pain, nausea and other physical symptoms in people who are seriously ill. A lethal overdose of barbiturates is not an appropriate treatment. In fact, it’s not a treatment at all,” she said.
It's my impression that it takes a major political campaign, promotional effort, paradigm shift, to get doctors and institutions to focus seriously on effective pain management and palliative care.
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