Trips to Switzerland often times have a somewhat controversial reason: assisted suicide, to die with dignity.
The idea behind assisted suicides is debated by medical ethicists around the world and restricted by many countries, but Switzerland is one of the few places where assisted suicides are not regulated. This in turn motivates many tourists to travel to Switzerland for a final, and fatal, trip.
According to a new study, published in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the number of tourists going to Switzerland to seek assisted suicide between 2009 and 2012 doubled. Switzerland has six "right-to-die" organizations, four of which allow people from other countries to use their practices.
Many of these tourists have debilitating or life-threatening illnesses such as Parkinson's or multiple sclerosis.
Researchers looked at data from the Institute of Legal Medicine in Zurich for information post-mortem regarding non-Swiss nationals who had assisted suicide from 2008-2012. Researchers looked at 611 cases of non-Swiss residents who had an assisted suicide. Most of them used the services of Dignitas, a right-to-die organization whose motto is "To live with dignity - to die with dignity".
Looking at the demographics, the cases came from 31 different countries and had an age range between 23 and 97 years old. Sixty percent of those seeking an assisted suicide were women. The majority of cases came from Germany followed by the UK. The US was in the top 10.
Some people say that this is an indication that assisted suicide laws in these participating countries, which include the US, need to change.
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying said the rates indicate that something needs to change in the UK's laws regarding assisted suicide.
"It's clearly unethical to force dying Britons to travel abroad to die through a lack of safeguarded choice in this country," she said.
"But there is also a patient safety issue. We have no control over the law in Switzerland, but we can and should regulate and safeguard assisted dying in this country."
Swiss laws allow assisted suicide as long as the person assisting does not benefit from the death.
Most people took sodium pentobarbital, but four people inhaled helium. Of the people who partook in these services, one in three had multiple debilitating conditions, and neurological conditions made up about half of the cases.
