Amongst the latest, and ever-changing, pathways of death and dying, “suicide tourism” presents distinctive ethical, legal and practical challenges. The international media report that citizens from across the world are travelling or seeking to travel to Switzerland, where they hope to be helped to die. In this paper I aim to explore three issues associated with this phenomenon: how to define “suicide tourism” and “assisted suicide tourism”, in which the suicidal individual is helped to travel to take up the option (...) of assisted dying; the legality of assisted suicide tourism, particularly in the English legal system where there has been considerable recent activity; and the ethical dimensions of the practice. I will suggest that the suicide tourist—and specifically any accomplice thereof—risks springing a legal trap, but that there is good reason to prefer a more tolerant policy, premised on compromise and ethical pluralism. (shrink)

Recent Developments Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11673-010-9256-0 Authors Cameron Stewart, Centre of Health Governance, Law and Ethics, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Australia Bernadette Richards, Faculty of Law, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia Australia Journal Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Online ISSN 1872-4353 Print ISSN 1176-7529.

Recent Developments Content Type Journal Article DOI 10.1007/s11673-010-9256-0 Authors Cameron Stewart, Centre of Health Governance, Law and Ethics, Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW Australia Bernadette Richards, Faculty of Law, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia Australia Journal Journal of Bioethical Inquiry Online ISSN 1872-4353 Print ISSN 1176-7529.