State reluctant to cover costs of assisted suicide

Assisted suicide groups contested a motion to stop authorities from covering costs for foreigners who travel to the country to die.

Assisted suicide groups contested Wednesday a motion adopted in the Swiss canton of Zurich demanding that authorities stop covering costs for foreigners who travel to the country to die.

"Fundamentally it is odd that we want families to take on the costs linked with assisted suicide, but not in the case of non-assisted suicide", a spokesperson for Exit said, a group that helps Swiss nationals wanting to die.

On Monday the Zurich parliament adopted a motion proposed by members of various political parties asking non-Swiss nationals to bear the costs of their assisted suicide in the country.

The Zurich canton executive now has three years to outline a law for the motion.

"The costs the state has to bear are huge", one of the authors of the motion, a member from the right-wing populist Swiss People's Party argued, quoted by the Swiss agency ATS.

Another author of the motion, from the centre-right Christian Democrats, estimated the costs for Swiss legal authorities and the police at some 600,000 Swiss francs per year (400,000 euros or 544,000 dollars).

Out of the handful of organisations offering assisted suicide, Exit treats Swiss nationals only whereas another group Dignitas is the only organisation treating foreigners who come to die in Switzerland.

The Christian Democrat Party and the Democratic Centre Union parties, authors of the motion, want to curb "death tourism" in Switzerland.

Exit argue that the flow of foreigners to the country for assisted suicide will end when other European countries adopt a "more liberal" legislation.