The Dignitas suicide clinic in Basel Switzerland caused the death of Pietro D’Amico, a 62-year-old magistrate from Calabria in southern Italy, in April, 2013 after D'Amico received a wrong diagnosis.



Dignitas is a suicide clinic that is operated by Ludwig Minella, a retired lawyer. Dignitas is known for encouraging the suicide deaths of foreign "suicide tourists" for a fee.



An article that was published in Switzerland's english news service, The Local, stated:

The father-of-one took the decision after a wrong diagnosis from Italian and Swiss doctors, his family's lawyer Michele Roccisano told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. An autopsy carried out by the University of Basel’s Institute of Forensic Medicine found that D’Amico was not suffering from a life-threatening illness at the time of his death. Roccisano has called on the Italian and Swiss authorities to examine D’Amico’s medical records to determine what went wrong.

Assisting suicide and euthanasia must be prohibited because the decision of one person to end the life of another person is irrevocable. People who are not terminal or living with depression, cannot be treated for their condition once they are dead.

Dignitas has also been connected to other controversies:

1. The assisted suicide death of a UK man with dementia earlier this year.

2. The Swiss government refusing to regulate assisted suicide groups even after a Zurich prosecutor admitted that assisted suicide needed to be regulated.

3. June 2012, the Canton Vaud voted to allow assisted suicide groups to operate in the nursing homes.

4. Dignitas founder, Ludwig Minelli, is reported to be making millions on assisted suicide, but the Swiss government offers no oversight.

5. Former Dignitas employee, Soraya Wernli spoke about the many abuses at the Dignitas suicide clinic.

Reprinted with permission from Alex Schadenberg's blog.