Though euthanasia is prohibited in Switzerland, assisted suicide is legal, so long as "no selfish interests are involved." But opponents fear vulnerable people could be forced to end their life this way, so researchers from the University of Bern investigated socioeconomic factors linked to assisted suicide.
Publishing the results of their study in the International Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers, led by Prof. Matthias Egger, found that assisted suicide is more common in women and groups that may demonstrate more vulnerability - such as those living alone or those who are divorced.
However, the team also found that those with higher education and a higher socioeconomic position were more likely to opt for assisted suicide.
Whereas euthanasia involves a physician taking an active role in helping the patient to die, assisted suicide means the physician only makes lethal means available to the patient for use when he or she chooses.
Assisted suicide is illegal in most states of the US. However, in Switzerland, the role of physicians involves assessing whether the patient requesting assistance has the capacity to make an informed decision and to prescribe the lethal drug.
Authors of the latest study note that the person requesting assistance does not have to have a terminal illness in Switzerland.
In 2013, the European Court of Human Rights asked Switzerland to make clear whether and under what conditions patients not suffering from terminal illnesses should have access to assisted suicide. This request suggested Switzerland needed to more accurately regulate assisted dying.
Vulnerable groups 'of concern'
To conduct their study, the researchers used data from three right-to-die organizations and linked it to the Swiss National Cohort, which is a longitudinal study of mortality based on census and mortality records.
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