Suicide tourism

Suicide tourism, or euthanasia tourism, is the practice of potential suicide candidates travelling to a jurisdiction to commit assisted suicide or suicide. In some jurisdictions, assisted suicide is legal.

An American expatriate who set up websites offering to help people make arrangements to kill themselves in Cambodia shut the sites down in 2005, saying he hoped to avoid problems with the authorities.

A drug known as liquid pentobarbital is used by owners to euthanize pets. When given to humans, the drug can give them a painless death in under one hour. The pet shops across Mexico have such drugs. As a result, tourists from across the globe seeking to terminate their own lives were reported to be flying out to Mexico.

Critics have claimed that the Dutch initiative for euthanasia will trigger a wave of "euthanasia tourism". However, a clause insisting on a well-established relationship between doctor and patient is designed to prevent this.

Regulations were proposed to limit possibilities of legal suicide assistance for foreigners in Switzerland. The law primarily targeted Dignitas, one of two right-to-die groups in Switzerland assisting foreigners. The Swiss government rejected proposed stricter regulations in 2006, maintaining the status quo as regulated by Paragraph 115 of Swiss Criminal Code.

Although the assisted suicide market is largely German, as of August 2015, approximately 300 British citizens had travelled to Switzerland from the UK to die at one of Dignitas' rented apartments in Zurich. The names of a few of these people are known, though most remain anonymous. By November 2008 the number of British members of Dignitas had risen to 725, a number exceeded only by Swiss and German membership. Given the size and population density of Europe, it is certain that there are Dignitas members in other European countries. Right-wing politicians in Switzerland have repeatedly criticized suicide assistance for foreigners, branding it suicide tourism (Sterbetourismus in German).

In 2007, Dignitas launched an effort to gain legal permission for healthy foreigners, including married couples committed to suicide pacts, to end their lives in Switzerland.

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Wikipedia