Suicide tourism Switzerland statistics simply refers to the number of tourists going to Switzerland to take away their lives, assisted or not. And according to the latest figures in this new study, more and more people are opting to stop by the said country just to commit suicide.
As per a recently published report in the Journal of Medical Ethics, the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics has constantly increased within the first decade of the 21st century.
Additionally, compared to the figures retrieved from 2008 to 2012, the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics grew more than a third from the previous decade, reported Tech Times.
Researchers, who came up with the term "suicide tourism" also revealed in the publish report that the most popular groups of tourists to commit suicide in Switzerland are the Germans and the British.
The researchers who worked on establishing the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics update reportedly collected data from death records at the University of Zurich that were categorized as assisted suicides.
The data they collected and presented in the new report suggests that the suicide tourism statistics in Zurich alone rose from 123 cases in 2008 to 172 cases by the end of 2012.
"In the UK, at least, 'going to Switzerland' has become a euphemism for (assisted suicide)," the authors of the study on the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics wrote. "Six right-to-die organizations assist in approximately 600 cases of suicide per year; some 150-200 of which are suicide tourists."
Furthermore, the researchers also found out that there are six assisted suicide organizations in Switzerland, and out of the six, four allow tourists to enlist their professional services.
Dignitas was identified as the main organization that has contributed to the rise of the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics.
With the motto "To live with dignity, to die with dignity," Dignitas is considered the most popular assisted suicide organization in Switzerland that has over 5,000 members in 60 countries as of late.
Based on the new figures on the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics, 268 Germans and 126 Brits had died due to assisted suicide tourism.
Other nationalities that also made it to the top 10 list of the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics include: French, Italian, Austrian, Canadian, Spanish and Israeli.
The age of the people who had opted to commit suicide in Switzerland ranged from 23 to 97. The average age is 60 and almost 60 percent of the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics were women, noted the Wall Street Journal.
According to the study, the main reason why the tourists opted to commit assisted suicide is due to their neurological conditions such as paralysis, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease, among others. Rheumatic diseases and cancer were also found to be two other health-related reasons why the tourists ended their lives.
As for the reason why tourists opted to take their lives in Switzerland, Dr. Julian Mausbach, a researcher and researcher at Zurich University's Center of Excellence for Medicine, said, "[Switzerland is] "doing the job that is not being done elsewhere because the regulations in other countries do not offer the opportunity."
Finally, researchers also revealed that most cases in the suicide tourism Switzerland statistics involved the intake of sodium pentobarbital that has led to "excruciating" deaths.
In the U.S., only five states legitimately recognize assisted suicide. They are Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Vermont.
