"Suicide Tourists" Find Death in Switzerland.

Since 1999, almost 200 foreigners have traveled to Switzerland to die in assisted suicide, part of a practice known as "suicide tourism." Switzerland has some of the most permissive euthanasia laws in the world, allowing doctors to provide lethal drugs as long as the patient administers them.

The pro-euthanasia group Dignitas, which has an office in Zurich, announced in 1999 that it would "help" foreigners who come to Switzerland to die. In 2000, 3 killed themselves, and the official numbers have continued to rise each year: 27 in 2001, 55 in 2002, and 91 in 2003, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The "suicide tourists" do not have to be terminally ill to die in Switzerland. In 2003 a mentally ill brother and sister from France, ages 29 and 31, killed themselves legally, according to AFP. Two British nationals, Robert Stokes, 59, and his 53-year-old wife Jennifer, died last April with the "help" of Dignitas, even though they were not terminally ill, the Daily Post reported.

Another British "suicide tourist" was Reg Crew, 74, who had motor neuron disease, according to the Daily Post. Crew traveled to Switzerland in January 2003 and paid Dignitas [pounds sterling]46 (about $84) for a fatal dose of barbiturates. He died on January 20.

Euthanasia supporters are now urging British officials to pass a law closer to Switzerland's. Crew's widow, Win, sent a letter to Home Secretary David Blunkett asking for his support for legalized euthanasia, the Daily Post reported.

Blunkett opened the door to such a law by telling the Daily Post this January, "Personally, I have not been in favour, but I am persuadable. We would need to have safeguards, over a period of time, to ensure individuals have not been influenced or persuaded to do it [commit suicide] by those around them." The British House of Lords has launched an inquiry into a proposed Patient Assisted Dying Bill.

Some in Switzerland are beginning to call for more restrictions on assisted suicide to stop the tourist trade. Public prosecutor Andreas Brunner announced he is preparing legislation on the local level that would ban groups such ...