Assisted suicide attracts lonely - Swiss study

Wednesday February 19th, 2014

Women and those living alone use the right to assisted suicide in Switzerland more than others, according to a major study published today.

Switzerland has some of the world's most liberal assisted suicide laws and its clinics attract people from all over the world.

Researchers also found that those using assisted suicide tended to be more highly educated than others - and also to be non-religious.

Under Swiss law, doctors prescribe a lethal drug and also assess the capacity of a person requesting death to make the decision.

The findings come from a study of some 1,301 deaths over a six year period involving three assisted suicide organisations.

Some 41% of the deceased had cancer and 11% had diseases of the nervous system. Some 15% had circulatory diseases, the researchers report in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

There were 30 people with mood disorders and another six with other psychiatric conditions.

Researcher Professor Matthias Egger, of the University of Bern, Switzerland, called for Switzerland to set up an anonymous database of assisted suicides so future trends could be monitored.

He said: "The higher rates among the better educated and those living in neighbourhoods of higher socio-economic standing does not support the 'slippery slope' argument but might reflect inequities in access to assisted suicide.

"On the other hand, we found a higher rate among people living alone and the divorced. Social isolation and loneliness are well known risk factors for non-assisted suicides and our results suggest that they may also play a role in assisted suicide."

Suicide assisted by Right-to-Die Associations: Population based cohort study. International Journal of Epidemiology 19February 2014; doi: 10.1093/ije/dyu010

Tags: Cancer | Europe | General Health | Mental Health | Pain Relief

Printer friendly page