The number of assisted suicide requests increased by 20% last year in German- and Italian-speaking Switzerland. Five hundred and eighty-four (584) people were given assistance to die in German-speaking Switzerland, i.e. an increase of 124 compared to 2013.
The Exit Association, a Swiss association that “helps the terminally ill to end their lives and defends the right to refuse palliative care” published these figures yesterday. It attributes this increase” to the extension of its services last year to elderly people with several comorbidities and increased media interest in addition to the ageing population and the rise in the number of senile dementia cases”.
The association also has a record number of members: 81,015 at the end of 2014 compared to 67,602 in 2013.
The figures relating to assisted suicide, known as “autodélivrance”, in French-speaking Switzerland, should be known in April but the association has already reported an increase in numbers.
Reuters Economique 11/03/2015