"To live with dignity – to die with dignity"

As the assisted suicide debate rages on in the UK, both sides frequently point to Swiss clinic Dignitas.

For the anti-euthanasia movement, the services Dignitas provides are unethical and inexcusable. Meanwhile for the large numbers who support the right to die – in particular those with terminal illnesses who wish to end their own lives – Dignitas is an example of assisted dying done right, though one beyond the means of many who might otherwise utilise the clinic’s services.

According to the Dignitas website, the organization has “the objective of ensuring a life and a death with dignity for its members and of allowing other people to benefit from these values.” Among the services Dignitas provides to members are counselling in regard to all end-of-life issues and accompaniment of dying patients and assistance with a self-determined end of life. Suicide prevention is also listed as one of the Dignitas organisation’s key activities. Reportedly Dignitas has helped more than 1000 people die in Zurich clinics.

Terminally ill Britons make up nearly one quarter of users of assisted suicide clinics like Dignitas, according to an August 2014 story in The Telegraph. The recent deaths of Jeffrey Spector, a British businessman, and Bob Cole, a former town councillor in North Wales, both of whom ended their lives at the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, have reignited the debate around euthanasia and assisted suicide, with some who support the right to die lamenting the fact that terminally ill British citizens must travel abroad in order to end their lives.

With parliament preparing to debate a new assisted dying bill introduced by Labour MP Rob Marris, we take a closer look at the mecca of assisted suicide, Dignitas.

The house where people go to die: Inside the Dignitas clinic of assisted suicide

Dignitas founder Ludwig Minnelli outside of the clinic (Daily Express)

Inside the Dignitas house

The Guardian

‘One person a fortnight’ travels to Dignitas from Britain to end their lives

Bob Cole, who had mesothelioma, was the first Briton to speak publicly about his decision to end his life at Dignitas. (The Guardian)

Motor neurone disease patient: 'Why I want to die at Dignitas'

Jackie Baker plans to go to the Dignitas euthanasia clinic to die (The Telegraph)

Daughters raise money in bid to send their terminally ill mother to Dignitas clinic

Tara O'Reilly with her daughter Darcy Box, 11 (Wales Online)

‘Please donate for my death at Dignitas clinic’

A disabled man, Roger Bailey, has set up a crowd funding page to pay for his own death. (MK Citizen)

Man who killed himself at Dignitas explains decision in film

Jeffrey Spector, bottom right, enjoyed a last supper with his wife of 23 years and daughters Courtney, Keleigh and Camryn (The Telegraph)