Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (2004): "Care of patients in the terminal phase of life". Medical-Ethical Guidelines of the SAMS

According to the revised guidelines on "care of patients in the terminal phase of life", issued by the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences (Schweizerische Akademie der Medizinischen Wissenschaften, SAMS), for assisted suicide to be licit, the physician must comply with three minimum requirements: 1. "The patient's disease justifies the assumption that he or she is approaching the end of life", 2. "Alternative possibilities for providing assistance have been discussed and, if desired, have been implemented", and 3. "The patient is capable of making the decision, the wish to end his or her life has been well thought out and arrived at without external pressure, and the patient persists in this wish. These points must have been checked by a third person, not necessarily a doctor." In addition, "The death of a patient as a result of assisted suicide must be reported to the examining authorities as an unnatural death, for clarification." The scope of the new guidelines does not go beyond "patients in the terminal phase of life". These are patients whose doctor has arrived at the conclusion from clinical signs that a process has started which, experience indicates, will lead to death within a matter of days or a few weeks.

At the end of May 2018 the SAMS adopted the revision of the guidelines unter the title "Dealing with Dying and Death" (unofficial translation).

Medical-Ethical Guidelines of the SAMS. (German version is the original, binding version). Online Version

Information on the revision of the SAMS guidelines. Online Version (German)

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