What is AS?
Legal assistance for suicide with Dignitas
DIGNITAS’ qualified staff have a great deal of experience with end-of-life issues and accompanying dying patients. They will first establish, in detailed discussions with the member, whether they meet the pre-conditions to be complied with by DIGNITAS for assistance with suicide, and whether the wish to die reflects the settled and declared will of the member. In this, it is particularly important to determine whether the member’s capacity of discernment is impaired in any way, and whether anyone close to him/her, or third parties, are pushing the member towards suicide for any reason.
In the case of medically diagnosed hopeless or incurable illnesses, unbearable pain or unendurable disabilities, DIGNITAS offers its members the option of an accompanied suicide. DIGNITAS procures the necessary medication for this, a lethal, fast-acting and completely painless barbiturate which is dissolved in ordinary drinking water. After taking it the patient falls asleep within a few minutes, after which sleep passes peacefully and completely painlessly into death.
Naturally, each permitted use of a fatally effective medication requires a Swiss doctor’s prescription, for only by this means can the drug legally be procured. People resident in Switzerland should first discuss with us the question of which doctor may issue the prescription: in most cases nowadays, the person’s family doctor is prepared to do so.
Where this is not the case, and for people who are not resident in Switzerland, DIGNITAS calls on independent Swiss doctors who cooperate with DIGNITAS. After an in-depth evaluation of the member’s written request and medical information, and following at least two face-to-face meetings with the member (which allows the doctor to satisfy him- or herself that the member meets the pre-conditions for the desired accompanied suicide) the prescription may be issued to DIGNITAS.
From this time onwards, the member wishing to die can arrange the time of their accompanied suicide with DIGNITAS. There are always at least two people from Dignitas present at an accompanied suicide: they can then testify as to the course of events.
Frequently, members want to die in the company of those closest to them. Dignitas emphasizes the importance of involving friends and relatives in the process: the “long journey” that is assisted dying requires careful preparation for and consideration of the appropriate time to say farewell.
DIGNITAS’ experience shows that only a very few people who enrol as members take advantage of the service for assistance with suicide. They usually feel sufficiently protected by the Patient’s Instructions. If these are observed – because they specify that no life-prolonging measures are to be initiated – any life-threatening situation will lead to a natural death. Membership of DIGNITAS endows members with confidence: in the event of a hopeless situation, a member can say “I have had enough now, I want to die.” This feeling of security is of exceptional importance to mature human beings.