Clinical trial NCT04261088: Assisted Suicide in Switzerland
Official title: Assisted Suicide in Switzerland
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Conditions: Assisted Suicide
Keywords: Ethics
Switzerland
End of life
Assisted Death
Natural History
Lead sponsor: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
Sponsor class: NIH
First posted: 2020-02-07
Enrollment: 25
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_ONLY
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: 25 transcripts of interviews with: Academics 14, Physicians and other medical care 6, Right to die associations 4, Government official 1

Brief summary: Background:

Researchers want to learn more about how the Swiss model of assisted suicide works. To do this, they have interviewed 25 Swiss experts. The researchers will draw on research in the fields of ethics, law, and medicine to analyze the transcripts.

Objective:

To describe the practice of assisted suicide in Switzerland and to study how the policy is carried out, how the right-to-die societies work, and the ethical implications of the practice.

Eligibility:

Swiss experts in the field of assisted suicide

Design:

The study includes 25 interviews that have already been conducted. The participants were:

* academics
* doctors and others in medical care
* a government official
* representatives of right-to-die societies.

Researchers will analyze the data using qualitative methods. Two researchers will develop a coding scheme and code the texts and analyze the data.

Detailed description: Switzerland is the only country in the world that enables assisted suicide by lay people, i.e.,

people who are not physicians. All other countries that have adopted aid-in-dying legislation

require that a physician provides this assistance. This project probes the reasons for adopting this policy, and the advantages and the disadvantages of the Swiss model at the end of life. Are the Swiss aid-in-dying volunteers able to provide well-informed assistance to patients in need? Is the Swiss model one to be followed by other nations? The project will focus on the work of the Swiss aid-in-dying societies. The study draws on research in the fields of ethics, law and medicine. Its novelty lies in incorporating different methods of analysis, reflecting on the right to die with dignity within a liberal framework that aims to respect fundamental human rights.

Eligibility criteria: * INCLUSION/EXCLUSION:

The study includes 25 interviews with Swiss experts that have been conducted.

* Gender: Men 14, Women 11
* Backgrounds of interviewees: Academics 14, Physicians and other medical care 6, Right to die associations 4, Government official 1
* Race and ethnicity: All white Swiss.
* Age range: Unknown, but all are adults.
* No vulnerable populations.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Descriptive study
timeFrame: Ongoing
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bethesda
country: United States
facility: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
state: Maryland
Study officials:
affiliation: National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
name: Scott Y Kim, M.D.
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: