The gruesome details of 4 assisted suicides with helium bags at the Swiss suicide clinic, Dignitas, are described in the latest issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics. Three researchers – from Canada, the US and the Netherlands, wanted to draw on the experience of Dignitas. Their reason for their interest is not quite clear, but their methocs were approved by an ethics research board at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, in British Columbia.

The researchers watched videos of the demise of 4 people who breathed helium through a mask under the supervision of Dignitas volunteers. (The deaths are taped and given to the police so that they can check that every detail of the demise is legal.) Three of the deaths took place fairly quickly and in about 5 to 8 minutes all gasping had finished. The fourth, however, took  at least 38 minutes and the volunteers were clearly nervous.

Dignitas normally uses a lethal dose of sodium pentobarbital. But in 2008 the Zurich authorities said that the patient had to be seen by a doctor more than once before the suicide. The head of Dignitas, Ludwig Minelli, thought that this unduly restricted his clients’ autonomy, and started using helium, which did not require the intervention of doctors. The authors of the article believe that the use of helium could help demedicalise assisted suicide, although they believe that a bag over the head is superior to a mask, which allows some oxygen to enter.

One of the most useful aspects of the article is a complete breakdown of deaths at Dignitas from May 1998 to December 2009 (click on link). There have been 1041 deaths, with nearly 60% coming from Germany, 14% from Great Britain, 11% from Switzerland and 9% from France. People from about 30 countries have come to die at Dignitas. ~ Journal of Medical Ethics, March