Switzerland is the only country in the world that allows foreigners to come and have assisted suicide. There is a couple organizations that assists foreigners but Dignitas is the most used. Dignitas was founded in 1998 by the Human Rights lawyer Ludwig Minneli. Since then over a 1000 people have come to Dignitas to end their lives, 60% of those seeking help are German.
One thing that makes me question Dignitas is the fact they claim to be Not For Profit but charge a considerable amount of money for their services.
The cost is approximately $5263.16 for their services and if Dignitas arranges the cremation or transportation of the body back to the person's country the cost is $9210. The fees paid cover medical cost, official cost and cremation.
I can understand the fees being so high if the body was being transported back home but most choose cremation and disposal of the cremated remains in Zurich. In the USA being cremated is considerably less. In the UK the cost of cremation is comparable to the USA.
So what is the real cost? And if they were actually Not for Profit, why was Ludwig Minnelli refusing to share Dignitas financial records?
The Guides that assist with the suicides are unpaid volunteers. The actual drug, Nembutal, is not expensive. There generally aren't funeral cost other than cremation. Administration Cost?
I'm not saying getting help is wrong to end suffering. I'm just sick that someone is profiting from this. What's the price of a human life?
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