EU court finds Swiss assisted suicide laws vague
European Court finds Swiss assisted suicide laws unclear when people entitled to lethal dosage
GENEVA (AP) -- The European Court of Human Rights has found that Swiss laws on so-called passive assisted suicide are unclear and need revising to clarify when people are entitled to a medical prescription for a lethal dose of drugs.
Alda Gross, a Swiss woman in her early 80s, appealed to the Strasbourg, France-based court after she couldn't find a doctor to prescribe her a lethal dosage because she had no clinical illness. She had argued she was entitled to end her life rather than become increasingly frail.
A Zurich health board denied Gross' request in 2009 and the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rejected her appeal in 2010. The European Court ruling came Tuesday.
