Dignitas at Lake Zurich
Socially, politically, economically developed countries of the world - and religious institutions - are struggling with the concept of assisted suicide. People with end-of-life diseases who have a wish to end their struggle with suffering and who insist they have a moral and ethical right to decide for themselves when to end their lives.Euthanasia is a troubling and troublesome concept for a lot of people, no less the governments that represent them. And no religious institution will agree that any agency other than God has the right to snuff out a human life.
There are a few countries in the world where euthanasia is legal; Belgium and the Netherlands. And assisted suicide is legal in Albania and Luxembourg. A number of States within the U.S.; Oregon, Washington, Montana, and soon New Hampshire recognize the legality of assisted suicide. Japan has no legal status for euthanasia, but does nothing to prevent it.
Switzerland has no law permitting euthanasia, but looks the other way and does not seek to punish doctors who perform euthanasia. Despite which the Swiss suicide clinic Dignitas, is known world-wide for the compassionate care they take with end-of-life sufferers, or those elderly who simply have no wish to continue living and insist they prefer death to life.
At the clinic, trained professionals ensure by careful interviews that people who wish to leave life are in full possession of their mental faculties and have considered all other options. The clinic has helped roughly a thousand people end their lives, and most of these have been terminally ill.
It exists by exploiting Swiss legislative loopholes, and those that exist throughout Europe.
Oddly enough, many families of those who end their lives there seem unwilling to bring back their loved ones bodies for burial, or their ashes. They are simply left there, at the clinic. And the clinic has never divulged what their disposal method has been.
Now, however, it would appear that one of their disposal methods for the remains of the deceased may be to dump cremation urns into a nearby lake.
It has been reported that divers discovered cremation urns on the bed of Lake Zurich. "After 50, we stopped counting" said a police diver. "They lay there in a big heap." Dignitas has not assumed responsibility for the presence of those urns. But they have been found nearby where the clinic is located, and the urns are inscribed with the logo of the clinic.
Not so very dignified, after all.
Labels: Particularities/Peculiarities, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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