Dignitas founder dies by assisted suicide days before 93rd birthday

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Minelli founded the Dignitas organisation in 1998 after decades working as a journalist and lawyer

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The 92-year-old founder of a Swiss assisted suicide organisation Dignitas has died by assisted suicide, the group has announced.

Ludwig Minelli led a "life for freedom of choice, self-determination, and human rights", Dignitas, which was founded by the Swiss lawyer in 1998, said in a statement. He died days before his 93rd birthday on 5 December.

Dignitas has helped thousands of people to end their own lives, becoming one of the most well-known right-to-die organisations in the world during an era in which a number of countries have shifted towards allowing assisted dying.

The UK is the latest to edge towards reform, with the House of Lords currently debating the assisted dying bill. It has raised fears among critics that disabled, vulnerable and elderly people could be coerced into ending their lives.

“Minelli recognised early on that as a matter of principle, people with a history of suffering also want to continue living if they can find a quality of life acceptable to them personally,” Dignitas said.

The organisation has assisted many who travelled to Switzerland to die with the assistance of a physician, with assisted dying not legal in their own country.

Dignitas said that only a small percentage of seriously ill people who turn to Dignitas end up applying for voluntary assisted dying, with an even smaller number following through with this decision. It said its practice “proves Minelli right” because “just knowing that they have this option gives them relief and the courage to go on living”.

Minelli fought on this basis for decades, after starting his career as a journalist in 1956. He turned to law, graduating from law school in 1981 before he was admitted to the bar of attorneys in 1986, aged 54.

He later founded the Dignitas association, coming up with its slogan: “To live with dignity – To die with dignity”.

Minelli faced numerous legal wrangles after founding Dignitas. In 2011, the European Court of Human Rights found “confirmed the right of a person capable of judgement to decide on the manner and the time of their own end of life”, in a case led by Minelli, Dignitas said.

Assisted dying, wherein a person is given lethal drugs from a physician which they administer themselves, has been legal since 1941. It is not the same as euthanasia, in which a lethal drug is administered by a physician to end a person’s life, which remains illegal in Switzerland.

Minelli had already expanded the association’s board several years ago and had planned a seamless transition for the organisation before his death, Dignitas said.

It said it will continue developing the association “in the spirit of its founder as a professional and combative international organisation for self-determination and freedom of choice in life and at the end of life”.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email [email protected], or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.

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