Ministers in Switzerland want clinics such as Dignitas outlawed At the very moment Britain decides whether to make an assisted suicide easier for its citizens, the only country with a medical clinic prepared to receive them is considering how to make the process more difficult. Helping terminally ill or incurably disabled people to commit suicide is a crime in Britain and will remain so, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said yesterday. But new guidance, to be published on Wednesday, will "list the factors that are likely to lead to a prosecution and list those that aren't," he said, effectively explaining how the law may be circumvented without consequence.The Swiss clinic Dignitas is the only clinic in the world that helps foreigners to end their lives. About 115 people from the UK have died at Dignitas, but none of those who assisted them has been prosecuted. Support for Britons who have chosen to travel to the clinic has grown in the UK, but in Switzerland there is growing embarrassment about what has become known as "suicide tourism".
At the very moment Britain decides whether to make an assisted suicide easier for its citizens, the only country with a medical clinic prepared to receive them is considering how to make the process more difficult.
Helping terminally ill or incurably disabled people to commit suicide is a crime in Britain and will remain so, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said yesterday. But new guidance, to be published on Wednesday, will "list the factors that are likely to lead to a prosecution and list those that aren't," he said, effectively explaining how the law may be circumvented without consequence.
The Swiss clinic Dignitas is the only clinic in the world that helps foreigners to end their lives. About 115 people from the UK have died at Dignitas, but none of those who assisted them has been prosecuted. Support for Britons who have chosen to travel to the clinic has grown in the UK, but in Switzerland there is growing embarrassment about what has become known as "suicide tourism".
i know a 94 year old lady that's counting on being able to make to switzerland if things get too uncomfortable under the italian 'bella agonia' system of palliative care.
i agree with nomad below, this is going to be a huge issue in the next few years, but it shouldn't have to be so ugly. we just don't 'get' dying like the asians. not surprising when we had it sanitised out of most of what we see surrounding us. ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
When the great Pyotr Iliych Tchaikovsky composed his famous Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1874 (see below for a clip), he took it to Nicolas Rubinstein, a brilliant pianist, to get a virtuoso's opinion. Unfortunately, all Mr Rubinstein could deliver was a torrent of words on how bad the composition was. Tchaikovsky was so offended by Rubinstein's damming comments, he didn't have the courage to perform the piece in public for another year, afraid that audiences would react in the same way. This is every musician's nightmare, being too afraid to go on stage and do the things you are convinced of being good at. Stage fright comes in all shapes and sizes but its effects can be devastating for some musicians or other performing artists. Clinic Dutch psychiatrist Esther van Fenema - who also happens to be a professional classical violinist - has set up the Netherlands' first out patient psychiatric clinic for performing artists. The clinic's purpose is to help them overcome any mental problems caused by the stress of their job. "Stage fright is the main problem which is connected to their profession", she says. "I've also seen people suffering from depression, post traumatic stress and addiction".
This is every musician's nightmare, being too afraid to go on stage and do the things you are convinced of being good at. Stage fright comes in all shapes and sizes but its effects can be devastating for some musicians or other performing artists. Clinic Dutch psychiatrist Esther van Fenema - who also happens to be a professional classical violinist - has set up the Netherlands' first out patient psychiatric clinic for performing artists. The clinic's purpose is to help them overcome any mental problems caused by the stress of their job. "Stage fright is the main problem which is connected to their profession", she says. "I've also seen people suffering from depression, post traumatic stress and addiction".
