Suicide has always been a controversial ethical issue. But the rising rate of assisted suicides in Switzerland has raised legal and ethical concerns especially for tourists who go to Swiss territory to voluntarily end their lives.

A recent study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics revealed that Germans and Britons are the main groups of tourists going to Switzerland for assisted suicide.

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Researchers have searched the databases of the Institute of Legal Medicine in Zurich for critical details of post-mortem exams of non-Swiss nationals who came to Switzerland for assisted suicide between 2008-2012.

Statistics derived from the data gathered from death records at the University of Zurich specifically from suicide tourism rose from 123 cases in 2008 to 172 in 2012.

There are about six right-to-die organizations in Switzerland and four of them allow citizens from other countries to avail of their services. These organizations have been assisting 600 cases of suicide every year, where 150 to 200 cases are tourists.

Dignitas, the main assisted suicide organization situated near Zurich, allow people from other countries to use its services. It has 5,000 members from 60 different countries, and a motto that says, "To live with dignity is to die with dignity." 

Germany and the United Kingdom have the highest number of suicide tourists in Switzerland. Germany had the most number of cases with 268 and the U.K. had 126. Other top ten countries include Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Israel and Spain.

The study revealed that there were 611 assisted suicide cases between 2008 and 2012, with people aged 23 to 97 and an average age of 69. Almost 60% of the people who sought assisted suicide services in Switzerland were women.

Suicide tourists already have some sort of terminal disease which is the common reason why they seek right-to-die organizations. Common cases include neurological conditions such as paralysis, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis, and others such as cancer and rheumatic diseases.

Most of the assisted suicide cases make use of sodium pentobarbital which is a prescribed lethal drug used only in specific conditions under Swiss law. Researchers have studied some cases where they find this process of death as excruciating.

In the U.S., assisted suicide is legal in five states--Montana, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico and Washington.

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