‘medical paternalism’ (the role of the medical profession in determining who is deserving of help to die) and a person’s lawful right to self-determination, is the subject of much debate and discussion within the Swiss right to die movement. It is a tension which Exit’s Sarco euthanasia capsule (which uses liquid nitrogen and also requires no medical supervision) is intended to address.
Swiss Law Summary
As discussed earlier, the Swiss Penal Code allows for assistance to die. Swiss case law, has added further conditions. As stated in the introduction, a person who wants assistance to die must possess:
1. decision-making capacity; and 2. they must have ‘control’ or ‘ownership of the action’ (‘Tatherrschaft’ in German) over their death (see Swiss Federal Court BGE 133 I 58).
This second point has been legally-interpreted as the need for the person, themselves, to push the button or drink the liquid unaided.
Under Swiss law, ‘euthanasia’ is not permitted. This means that even when a person opts for a lethal injection, the doctor can lawfully to insert the cannula into the person’s arm, however, it is the person who must set the drip going. This is done by opening the tap on the intravenous line (see the following video of the death of Zsuzsi Yardley for how this process works).
