A Swiss doctor who prescribed pentobarbital to a healthy octogenarian who did not want to survive her seriously ill husband has been acquitted by the Geneva courts after years of legal proceedings.
• Read also: What are the rules on euthanasia and assisted suicide in Switzerland?
Pierre Beck was at the time of the events, in April 2017, vice-president of the suicide assistance organization, Exit Suisse romande.
In 2020, an appeal court confirmed his conviction at first instance (pecuniary penalty of 2400 Swiss francs -2426 euros- and suspended fine of 1200 francs -1231 euros-) for violation of the law on drugs and medical devices . But in December 2021 the federal court quashed the conviction and asked the Geneva courts to retry him under the narcotics law.
In its judgment of February 6, which the Swiss public television RTS revealed and which AFP was able to obtain on Tuesday, the Geneva Criminal Appeal and Review Chamber recalls that in December 2015, the wife had said before a notary that she did not wish to “survive” her husband.
The court concludes that “the mere fact that a doctor prescribes pentobarbital to a person in good health, capable of discernment and wishing to die, does not constitute behavior punishable by law” by the law on narcotics.
The judgment underlines however that the absence of penal repression concerning the prescription of pentobarbital to a person in good health does not mean that a doctor must be able to do so freely without incurring his civil or administrative liability, that is to say that is to say outside the framework set in particular by the directives of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (ASSM).
However, doctors are, under these rules, prohibited from prescribing this psychotropic to healthy people. According to the directives of the SAMS, assisted suicide is indeed reserved “for those to whom the disease or functional limitations cause suffering deemed unbearable”, argues the judgment.
Also, continues the Geneva court, any doctor who violates this rule exposes himself to “disciplinary sanctions which can prove to be very heavy”.
The subject in Switzerland of the end of life is appeased after long years of practice. According to the law, only the one who, “driven by a selfish motive”, assists in the suicide of someone is punishable.
The practice of organized assistance with suicide is however framed by the codes of medical ethics and organizations such as Exit and Dignitas, which have enacted their own safeguards (age, illnesses, etc.).