Clinic Wants to Help Healthy Woman Kill Self

Swiss founder argues option shouldn't be only for terminally ill
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 3, 2009 9:17 AM CDT
Clinic Wants to Help Healthy Woman Kill Self
The entrance of the building in Schwerzenbach, Switzerland, that houses Dignitas is shown in 2007.   (AP Photo/Keystone, Alessandro Della Bella)

The founder of a Swiss assisted-suicide center thinks the Brits are too narrow-minded about the service he offers—it should be available to everyone, not just the terminally ill. The center has sparked an uproar in Britain over plans to help a healthy woman kill herself, the Times of London reports. The woman’s husband is terminally ill, and the Canadian pair agreed to die together. Preparing for a court fight, Dignitas founder Ludwig Minelli told the BBC that suicide was a “marvelous opportunity.”

“As a human rights lawyer I am opposed to the idea of paternalism," said Minelli. "We do not make decisions for other people. We should have a nicer attitude to suicide, saying suicide is a very good possibility to escape.” Anyone with "mental capacity" should have the right to choose, he says.
(More euthanasia stories.)

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