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Euthanasia clinic under scan over profiteering allegations
Dignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic that has helped almost 1,000 people to kill themselves, is under investigation amid concerns it may be profiteering from vulnerable patients.
- By Martin Beckford, Telegraph Group
- Published: 23:38 January 8, 2009
Dignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic that has helped almost 1,000 people to kill themselves, is under investigation amid concerns it may be profiteering from vulnerable patients.
Dignitas, which is supposed to be a non-profit organisation, is being forced to open its accounts to prosecutors and disclose how much money it is receiving from assisting patients to commit suicide.
The founder of the group, Ludwig Minelli, is reported to have become a millionaire by helping at least 870 terminally ill people, an estimated 100 of whom were British, to die.
The organisation is said to have taken £61,000 (Dh343,567.44) from one woman, 10 times its usual fee.
Swiss law allows Dignitas to provide patients with a dose of barbiturate and a room in which their deaths are filmed, to prove the lethal injection is self-administered. But it remains illegal to help someone die for personal gain.
Juerg Vollenweider, the state prosecutor in Zurich, said: "We still don't even know what Dignitas does with the 10,000 francs (£6,000) it is paid or what it is for. If we are kept from taking a look into their accounting, we could see that as selfish motives."
A legal source said: "If Dignitas can be shown to have selfish motives, it could be in a lot of trouble."
According to the Swiss newspaper Blick, Minelli is yet to hand over the accounts, claiming he needs to transfer them from old software. He is reported to have said: "As soon as I find enough time I'll do it. If the state prosecution feels I'm making myself rich, they should start legal proceedings."
The clinic began operating in 1998.
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