Swiss court forces Christian nursing home to perform assisted suicide
A nursing home run by the Salvation Army will have to perform assisted suicide upon request of its patients to comply with an order from the Swiss Federal Court.
According to a report from World Radio, the Salvation Army challenged the law that required charitable institutions to allow assisted suicides if a patient requested it. The organization said that the law, which was implemented over a year ago, violated its religious beliefs and freedom of conscience.
The court rejected the complaint and stated that the nursing home would have to give up its charitable status if it did not want to comply with the law. If the Salvation Army chose to follow the court's recommendation, it would no longer receive state subsidies.
Switzerland has seen a 26 percent increase in assisted suicide over the previous year. Swissinfo reported that most of the people who opted to die by assisted suicide were terminally ill.
The Federal Statistics Office reported that there has been 742 cases of assisted suicide in Switzerland in 2014. 42 percent of the cases involved illnesses caused by cancer. 14 percent had neurodegenerative diseases. 11 percent had cardiovascular illnesses while 10 percent had muscoloskeletal disorders.
A study revealed that about 63 percent of people over the age of 50 who are living in German-speaking areas of Switzerland have considered assisted suicide. The research was conducted by the assisted dying organization Exit.
According to Exit's vice-president Marion Schafroth, the results reveal that patients want the issue to be discussed with their doctors "without taboo."
The organization's president Saskia Frei wants to simplify the procedure of assisted suicide so that a police investigation would not be required. Assisted suicide is considered as an "extraordinary death," which required authorities to investigate whether the law has been followed.
Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since the 1940s. The process is usually carried out with a lethal dose of barbiturates prescribed by a doctor. If poison is being used, whether through ingestion or through stomach tubes, it must be performed by the person who opted for assisted suicide.
