“Mr. Godard used legal assistance in Switzerland of a voluntary departure following multiple disabling pathologies in the words of the medical report,” said the family advisor to the Franco-Swiss director, Died Tuesday.
Le Monde with AFP
Jean-Luc Godard, emblematic filmmaker of the New Wave, died on Tuesday, September 13. At 91, the Franco-Swiss filmmaker used suicide assistance to put an end to his life, as his family advisor said to the France-Presse agency, confirming information published by the Daily Liberation.
“Mr. Godard used legal assistance in Switzerland of a voluntary departure following” multiple disabling pathologies “in the words of the medical report”, explained Patrick Jeanneret, confirming Information published by the Liberation Journal .
a legal practice in Switzerland
In Switzerland, there are different forms of death assistance, such as passive euthanasia and suicide assistance. The latter, not regulated in a specific way but authorized under certain conditions, is the best known practice.
In principle, the one who, “pushed by a selfish mobile”, ready assistance in someone’s suicide – for example by providing them with a deadly substance – is punishable by a deprivation of freedom of five years at most or of a pecuniary penalty. However, organizations provide suicide assistance within the framework of the law as long as “no selfish reason” can be criticized for them.
The practice is thus framed by codes of medical ethics and supported by organizations. The most important of them, exit, accompanied nearly 1,400 people to death in 2021.
Assisted suicides have increased annually in recent years in Switzerland, from 187 cases per year in 2003 to 965 in 2015, according to the Federal Statistics Office. After a slight decrease in 2016, they have since left upwards.