Suicide in the land of milk and chocolate: The legalization of assisted suicide and death tourism in Switzerland.

摘要

Assisted suicide (AS) and Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is one of the most controversial topics in medicine today. Switzerland is one of the few countries in which it has been legal for over sixty years. This study is an analysis of a six-month field research project in Lausanne, Switzerland. Lausanne is the first University hospital to grant AS within the hospital, the first to allow AS in nursing homes, and recently the first to grant AS to the mentally ill. The purpose of this research was to study who seeks AS using participant observation and interviews, and discuss AS with Swiss population, Swiss journalists, and two of the leading AS organizations within Switzerland.