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92 year old founder of Swiss assisted suicide Organization dignity Has died by assisted suicide, the group has announced.
ludwig minelli Dignitas, which was founded in 1998 by a Swiss lawyer, said in a statement it led “a life of freedom of choice, self-determination and human rights.” He died on 5 December, a few days before his 93rd birthday.
Dignitas has helped thousands of people end their lives, becoming one of the best-known right-to-dying organizations in the world during an era in which many countries have shifted from assisted dying to allowing others to die.
Britain is the latest country to move towards reform House of Lords The Assisted Dying Bill is currently being debated. This has raised fears among critics that disabled, vulnerable and elderly people could be forced to end their lives.
Dignitas said, “Minnelli recognized early on in principle that even people with a history of suffering would want to survive if they could find a quality of life acceptable to them personally.”
The organization has assisted several people who traveled to Switzerland to die with the assistance of a physician, even though assisted dying is not legal in their home country.
Dignitas said only a small percentage of terminally ill people who turn to Dignitas apply for voluntary assisted death, and an even smaller number follow through with the decision. It said that its practice “proves Minnelli right” because “just knowing they have this option gives them relief and courage to live”.
After starting his career as a journalist in 1956, Minnelli fought on this basis for decades. He turned to law, graduating from law school in 1981 and being admitted to the Bar of Attorney in 1986 at the age of 54.
He later founded the Dignitas Association, whose slogan was: “Live with dignity – die with dignity”.
Minelli faced several legal troubles after founding Dignitas. In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights “affirmed the right of the individual to be competent to decide on the manner and timing of the end of his or her life” in a case led by Minelli, Dignitas said.
Assisted death, in which a person is given a lethal drug from a physician that they then take themselves, has been legal since 1941. This is not the same as euthanasia, in which a lethal drug is administered by a physician to end a person’s life, which is illegal in Switzerland.
Dignitas said Minelli had already expanded the association’s board several years earlier and had planned a seamless transition for the organization before his death.
It said it would continue to develop the association “as a professional and militant international organization for self-determination and freedom of choice in life and at the end of life, in line with the spirit of its founder”.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans in confidence on 116 123 (UK & ROI), email. jo@samaritans.orgor visit Samaria website to get details of your nearest branch. If you live in the United States, and you or someone you know needs mental health support right now, call or text 988, or go to 988lifeline.org To access online chat from 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to anyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go here www.befrienders.org To find a helpline near you.