The founder of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted suicide organization, has died by assisted suicide at 92.
Euthanasia has been legal in Switzerland since 1942, but Ludwig Minelli argued the existing regime was too restrictive. He founded the group in 1998, and pushed to have it offer the service to citizens from other nations which did not permit the practice, making Switzerland a final destination for thousands.
Other jurisdictions have since shifted their stance, including several US states, but Dignitas still sees regular use: It assisted 280 suicides, almost all non-Swiss, in 2024, its highest figure since launch. Minelli said in 2010 that “the last human right is the right to make a decision on one’s own end.”