Assisted murder is a crime in Portugal, but there are citizens who die of their own free will in Switzerland, where, from 2009 to 2020, the Dignitas association helped eight people living in Portuguese territory to die.
One of the last media cases was that of Luís Marques, 63, in 2020. A paraplegic for 55 years, he chose to travel to Dignitas and die by assisted suicide, which was legally denied in Portugal. He was the eighth Portuguese to do so and RTP reported on his trip to Switzerland.
Dignitas, an association based in the Swiss city of Forch, has as its motto “Live with dignity, die with dignity” and advocates an “integrated approach” to the problem of the end of life, combining “palliative care, suicide prevention” in addition to psychological support, which can end in a medically assisted death.
In practice, despite being associated with medically assisted death, the association highlighted, at various times in the response, via email, to various questions from Lusa, that your work is “much more complete”based on advice and the search for alternatives for a dignified and comfortable life.
In 2021, Dignitas had 26 Portuguese partners, which, the association stresses, does not mean that everyone wants to resort to assisted dying, given that some consider themselves supporters of the cause. This is the largest number of associates residing in Portugal since 2016.
Since 2009, the association, a country where assisted dying is regulated, has registered eight people residing in Portugal who had their help to die.
In 2019, Dignitas helped 256 people of various nationalities end their livesreducing that number to 221 in 2020 and 212 in 2021.
Source: Observadora
