The illusion of a law

In Switzerland euthanasia will continue to be practised also to non-Swiss citizens. This, in short, is the response given by the inhabitants of the Swiss canton on May 15 in a referendum on assisted suicide, on the basis of two proposals presented by two conservative parties. The first proposal presented by the Federal Democratic Union (UDF, Christian-inspired) aimed at asking the Swiss Parliament to prohibit assisted suicide and aid suicide. Another proposal put forward by the Evangelical people’s Party called to put an end to “suicide tourism” requiring a ten-year residence in the Zurich Canton to someone seeking assisted suicide services. Conservative parties intended to set limitations but both proposals were rejected by approximately 80% of all voters. The interest for the outcome of the vote extends beyond the Canton as the Federal Government is due to submit a draft law regulating euthanasia by next fall. The firm “no” of the Catholic Church. Swiss bishops have always opposed assisted suicide. On the wake of the results the bishops reiterated their “no” to euthanasia and referred to the palliative treatments report drawn up by the Pastoral Health Commission in Zurich. In a phone interview granted to SIR Europe, the spokesman of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference Walter Müller underlined “the importance of the vote, which represents the clear stand of the Swiss constituency whose large majority endorses aid to suicide in the Canton of Zurich, the most populated Swiss Canton”. “Swiss bishops”, he added, “have always clearly opposed assisted suicide, carried out by organizations that perform real and true suicides”. In a statement issued in 2008, the bishops had already voiced their concern over “assisted suicide” organizations’ policy to seek the public opinion’s “ever greater” consensus. The figures. The figures released after the referendum in Zurich speak for themselves. Assisted suicide has been legal in Switzerland since 1941, but under certain conditions. The person providing assistance should not have a vested interest in the death and only passive assistance is permitted, i.e. providing the means; it does not include actively helping the person carry it out. The Evangelical people’s Party justly speaks of “death tourism”. In fact, according to data released by the Swiss assisted suicide organization Dignitas, since 2010 1.138 people have decided to put an end to their lives (592 from Germany, 118 from Switzerland, 102 from France, 18 from the United States and 16 from Spain). In 2003, 6.5 travelled to Switzerland to seek assisted suicide, accounting for 6.5% of all assisted suicide persons (9.7% in 2007).Palliative treatments. “The Swiss episcopate is concerned over the draft law on this issue, due to undergo con-federal debate next fall” Müller said. The spokesman of the Swiss bishop underlined the “stand” taken by the Bioethics Commission of the Bishops’ Conference released a few days ago in view of Zurich’s 15 May referendum in which the bishops explain that “everyone can share” their “no” to assisted suicide as it is based on a “rational and humanistic belief”. The bishops add: “The belief that suffering and death can be eliminated from life is an illusion”. “In reality – continues the Swiss episcopate – assisted suicide is not a help. It counters the fundamental duty to protect all human lives. It’s wrong to think that we ought to respond to a person’s request of suicide. Only on rare occasions does a yearning for death correspond to a free decision. It is mostly the result of circumstances and related pressures, namely suffering, the feeling of loss and lack of meaning and the fear to be a burden on one’s family”. To this regard the bishops underline the crucial belief that “compassion towards a suffering person doesn’t consist in homicide but in taking care of the person” and this is a task that can only be carried out by medical staff. Thus the Swiss bishops (already in 2008) urge the State “to be firmly committed in the promotion of palliative treatments”.