Mr. Silvan Luley:

First, on the question of contagion, the key to suicide attempt prevention is the same as with assisted dying and all end of life choice options and all soothing of suffering. The key is breaking the taboo, getting people to talk and creating an atmosphere where people come forward and start talking about their quality of life when they are considering ending their own life. That is what helplines like those run by the Samaritans, helplines here in Switzerland and in all countries do. They try to motivate or push people. We have public campaigns here in Switzerland, for example, to push or rather to motivate people to think about their emotional health and to start talking with others about their quality of life. It does not matter whether they wish to die upfront. It does not matter whether their wish to die has roots in some emotional problem or life crisis or whether it is a terminal illness. It simply does not matter. We need an atmosphere or a base layer in society such that people know that when they face a problem in life, they do not have to solve it for themselves and not talk to others. We need an atmosphere that allows people to come forward and start talking with others because it is only when they open up and start talking that help is possible. Any regime which says that suicide prevention is done by not talking about it is complete nonsense and the research has proven it to be wrong.

In terms of suicide and terminal cancer, I am not aware of the research to which the Senator refers. At an earlier point in this meeting I made it clear that it is very difficult to make a distinction between the type of person who contemplates do-it-yourself suicide or assisted dying but one thing that we know for sure, based on 25 years of experience, is that people who try suicide by violent methods often get in touch with us after a failed attempt.

The logical conclusion is that we need to make sure, via the healthcare system, that people and their close inner circle know that they can and should be speaking to others before attempting a suicide with a high risk of failure.