ZURICH: Voters in the Swiss city of Zurich rejected on Sunday proposed bans on assisted suicide and “suicide tourism”, or foreigners travelling to Switzerland to receive help ending their lives. Early projections showed voters had rejected both initiatives in local referendums by about 80 percent, Swiss news agency SDA reported. About 200 people commit assisted suicide each year in Zurich. Assisted suicide has been allowed in Switzerland since 1941 if performed by a non-physician who has no vested interest in the death. Euthanasia, or “mercy killing”, is legal only in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the US state of Oregon. Many terminally ill foreigners – particularly from Germany, France and Britain – travel to Switzerland to commit suicide, taking advantage of the Swiss rules which are among the world's most liberal on suicide.
