Researchers in UK say Switzerland is hotspot for suicides

LONDON: The first recorded case of an Indian travelling to Switzerland for 'suicide tourism' has now been confirmed. In a first of its kind study, researchers in UK have confirmed a tremendous spike in a worrying trend of suicide tourism.

The numbers of ' suicide tourists' going to Switzerland to take their own lives have doubled within four years with citizens from Germany and the UK making up the bulk of the numbers.

Those with neurological conditions, such paralysis, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, account for almost half of cases who travel every year to Switzerland to end their lives. While 123 people undertook suicide tourism in in 2008, the number rose to 172 in 2012.

The data shows nationals from 31 different countries were helped to die in Switzerland between 2008 and 2012, with German (268) and UK (126) nationals making up almost two thirds of the total.

Other countries in the top 10 included France (66), Italy (44), USA (21), Austria (14), Canada (12), Spain and Israel (each with 8). The data base which will be made public on Thursday morning shows one case from India in 2012.

The study by Oxford University looked at whether the availability of suicide tourism in Switzerland had prompted changes in the law on assisted suicide elsewhere.

While assisted suicide is restricted in many countries including India, it is not clearly regulated by law in Switzerland. Researchers searched the databases of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Zurich for information on investigations and post mortem examinations among non-Swiss nationals who had been helped to take their own lives.