Zurich considers allowing assisted suicide in retirement homes

In Switzerland, the city of Zurich is moving toward normalizing assisted suicide in retirement homes.

Key Takeaways:

• The Zurich government council has given approval for assisted suicide and euthanasia to be committed in all retirement homes and hospitals.

• It was not approved for prisons and psychiatric hospitals.

• The move raises concerns that the most elderly residents of Zurich will be encouraged to die.

The Details:

Zurich has undertaken a key step toward normalizing assisted suicide inside ordinary care settings, promoting a policy that pro-life advocates caution erodes the boundaries between care and getting rid of society’s most vulnerable.

On February 2, the Zurich Cantonal Council greenlit allowing euthanasia in all retirement homes and hospitals, though it did not approve the same for psychiatric institutions and prisons. The Council is scheduled to adopt a final vote on both the initiative and its counter-proposal at a future session.

The media outlet Swissinfo stated: 

The cantonal government is generally in favour of assisted suicide in all retirement and nursing homes. It has drawn up a corresponding counter-proposal to the initiative ‘Self-determination at the end of life in retirement and nursing homes too’. This would mean that all homes would have to tolerate assisted suicide in the future.

The report continued:

The popular initiative challenges a cantonal decision in October 2022 that not all care homes should allow assisted suicide on their premises, but only those with a service mandate from a municipality. This considers religious care homes that often reject euthanasia.

Zoom In:

In 2022, the Cantonal Council dismissed a similar proposal. Representatives from the Christian parties EDU and EPP contended that faith-based retirement homes should not be forced to enable assisted suicide, while supporters maintained that these institutions ought to abide by the wishes of residents.

Swissinfo explained that "The popular initiative could be withdrawn if the counter-proposal became law. In this case a different referendum could be held, giving citizens a say on the matter."

What started as an option for people who were inclined towards assisted suicide is now on the verge of becoming an obligation for institutions to offer assisted suicide, even for people and groups who oppose killing.

This recent development is a sobering reminder about how quickly a “limited” right to die can become a systemic obligation for care providers to facilitate death. Such a practice would be equivalent to a coercion of institutions, staff, and residents who are convicted that assisted suicide is never a form of care.

When assisted suicide becomes a standard feature of retirement homes, the “choice” to die can quickly feel like an expectation—especially in a culture highly aware of healthcare costs and staffing shortages.

The Bottom Line:

Rather than earmark resources to boost pain relief, companionship, and mental‑health support, institutions might slide toward promoting assisted suicide as the most efficient solution.

How “intolerable suffering” could be considered in such situations is also a matter of debate, as suffering premised on loneliness, mistreatment, or lack of resources could pressure residents toward assisted dying, a choice they would not make in a more supportive and life-affirming environment.

This precedent jeopardizes institutional conscience rights and could spread beyond Zurich to jurisdictions far beyond Switzerland if unchallenged.