Assisted Suicide in Switzerland

NCT ID: NCT04261088

Last Updated: 2025-12-04

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Total Enrollment: 25 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2020-02-03
• Study Completion Date: 2026-01-31

Brief Summary

Background:

Researchers want to learn more about how the Swiss model of assisted suicide works. To do this, they have interviewed 25 Swiss experts. The researchers will draw on research in the fields of ethics, law, and medicine to analyze the transcripts.

Objective:

To describe the practice of assisted suicide in Switzerland and to study how the policy is carried out, how the right-to-die societies work, and the ethical implications of the practice.

Eligibility:

Swiss experts in the field of assisted suicide

Design:

The study includes 25 interviews that have already been conducted. The participants were:

• academics
• doctors and others in medical care
• a government official
• representatives of right-to-die societies.

Researchers will analyze the data using qualitative methods. Two researchers will develop a coding scheme and code the texts and analyze the data.

Detailed Description

Switzerland is the only country in the world that enables assisted suicide by lay people, i.e.,

people who are not physicians. All other countries that have adopted aid-in-dying legislation

require that a physician provides this assistance. This project probes the reasons for adopting this policy, and the advantages and the disadvantages of the Swiss model at the end of life. Are the Swiss aid-in-dying volunteers able to provide well-informed assistance to patients in need? Is the Swiss model one to be followed by other nations? The project will focus on the work of the Swiss aid-in-dying societies. The study draws on research in the fields of ethics, law and medicine. Its novelty lies in incorporating different methods of analysis, reflecting on the right to die with dignity within a liberal framework that aims to respect fundamental human rights.

Conditions

Assisted Suicide

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: CASE_ONLY
• Study Time Perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

Experts in Swiss assisted suicide

Persons in Switzerland who are experts in how assisted suicide is practiced. We will beexamining already collected interviews.

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

The study includes 25 interviews with Swiss experts that have been conducted.

• Gender: Men 14, Women 11
• Backgrounds of interviewees: Academics 14, Physicians and other medical care 6, Right to die associations 4, Government official 1
• Race and ethnicity: All white Swiss.
• Age range: Unknown, but all are adults.
• No vulnerable populations.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

NIH

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Scott Y Kim, M.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)

Locations

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center

Bethesda, Maryland, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

20-CC-N059

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: secondary_id

999920059

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id