Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Doctor acquitted of murder in assisted suicide case

A doctor who was accused of murder after helping a patient to die was on Tuesday found not guilty by a court in Muttenz in the canton of Basel-Land.

Published: 10 July 2019 09:30 CEST
Doctor acquitted of murder in assisted suicide case
File photo: Depositphotos
However the doctor was convicted of violating drugs laws and received a 15-month suspended sentence and a 20,000 franc fine, reported news agencies.
 
Assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, under strict conditions, one of which is that the patient must be considered to have the mental capacity to know what he or she is doing. 
 
In this case, the patient, in her 60s, was suffering not only from physical ailments but also from depression, which, claimed the prosecution, affected her judgement. 
 
The doctor, president of assisted suicide organisation Life Circle/Eternal Spirit, was acting out of “personal idealism”, said the prosecution.
 
The defence argued that the doctor had lawfully evaluated the patient and considered her capable of making the decision to die before she took the lethal drug. 
 
A psychological report submitted after the woman’s death stated that the patient suffered from serious depression which could have affected her willingness to die.
 
However, despite considering the report reliable, the court judges said the patient was nevertheless capable of knowing the consequences of her choice to die. She had correctly evaluated her quality of life and loss of autonomy, they said. Further medical treatment would only have eased her symptoms in the very best case scenario. 
 
Though acquitted of murder, the doctor was found guilty of violating the rules surrounding drugs used for assisted suicide, which are strictly regulated in Switzerland.
 
 
Assisted suicide was legalised in Switzerland in 1918, and the current law dating from 1942 makes assistance to suicide legal on the condition that the assisting party derive no substantial financial gain from it. 
 
According to the law, anyone can benefit from suicide assistance if they meet certain conditions, including having a persistent wish to die, not acting on impulse, being capable of sound judgement and not being influenced by a third party. 
 
However established organisations like Exit will only treat people with unbearable symptoms, unacceptable disabilities or hopeless prognoses. It is rare that they assist people with a psychological disorder.
 
The person wishing to die must be able to take the lethal drug on their own. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

CRIME

‘Your permit is invalid’: How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

Scores of foreign residents have received an email recently telling them their residency rights in Switzerland have been revoked.

Published: 26 April 2024 11:17 CEST
'Your permit is invalid': How scammers in Switzerland target foreigners

A number of foreign nationals, especially in the German-speaking part of the country, have received an official-looking letter, purportedly from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) informing them that the Free Movement of People agreement between Switzerland and the EU has been nullified, and therefore “your residence permit is no longer valid.”

Faced with enquiries from concerned recipients, SEM responded that the letter is fake, advising recipients to ignore it and, above all, not to click on the QR code on the top.

“Fake letters from the SEM have been circulating since the beginning of this week,” the immigration authority said on its website as well as on X (formerly Twitter).  

“The letter has no impact on the recipient’s  residence status,” SEM added.

Fake jobs, real threats

However, this is only the latest scam perpetrated in the name of SEM.

There have been others in the past.

For instance, many foreigners have also received emails from addresses swissimmigration@consultant or eu_immigration@consultant, that pretend to be the Swiss immigration authority.

“In most cases, a fictitious job in the hotel industry is offered, with the senders demanding payment of 300 to 1,000 euros for a permit in Switzerland and for health and accident insurance,” SEM reported.

The first clue that this email doesn’t come from  SEM, which is part of Switzerland’s government, is that it is asking for payment in euros. If the scammers were smarter, they’d demand Swiss francs.

“These e-mails do not come from the SEM and should be considered as an attempt at fraud,” the agency said. 

Extortion attempt

And a few years ago, a number of foreigners received emails coming allegedly from SEM, Swiss border control authorities, or even the Federal Office of Police (Fedpol).

They threatened to revoke the victim’s residence permit or even expel them from the country altogether if they didn’t pay a certain sum of money into an anonymous account.

Needless to say, no government authority would ever resort to blackmail or demand payment for such ‘services’.

So a good rule to remember (for foreigners and Swiss alike) is that if threats and pressure are involved, letters / emails / phone calls ( WhatsUp messages are more than likely scams.
 
READ ALSO: The common scams foreigners in Switzerland need to be aware of 

Don’t respond

SEM as well as police urge everyone contacted by scammers, by whatever means to:

  • Ignore these messages by hanging up the phone and / or deleting emails, moving them to the Spam folder
  • Never give out your credit card number or bank account information to people you don’t know
  • If you did give your card number, contact your credit card company immediately to have the card blocked. Likewise, if you gave out your banking details, get in touch with your bank.
  • In the event of threats of extortion attempts, consider filing a criminal complaint. You can search for police stations in your area on the Police website. 
SHOW COMMENTS