One-way ticket to Zürich: presentations of 'Suicide tourism' in European news media

• Published in: Mortality (Abingdon, England) Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 817 - 832
• Main Author: Carrigan, Kalima
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 01.10.2024; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Assisted suicide; Autonomy; Death & dying; Europe; Euthanasia; Frame analysis; Law; Mass media; Media coverage; News media; right-to-die; Self determination; Suicide tourism; Tourism; Western society; Switzerland
• ISSN: 1357-6275; 1469-9885
• DOI: 10.1080/13576275.2023.2242791

In recent years, stories of individuals travelling to Switzerland for an assisted death have been the subject of a notable number of news reports, particularly in the UK, giving the impression that this is largely a British practice. Coverage of individuals undertaking this journey, colloquially known as 'suicide tourists', frequently features in newspaper media in other European countries however, presented as a rousing reminder of the incongruity between the modern desire for greater choice over one's death, and the law on assisted suicide making this practice a crime in all but a few European nations. In this mixed-methods study I explore the framing of suicide tourism in the newspaper media of four Western European countries between 2002 and 2021. A quantitative analysis of trends in reporting was carried out initially, complemented by a qualitative thematic analysis of news stories using a critical discourse framework. Four themes indicative of a wider 'European' discourse employing common frames, language, and meaning were identified: 1/suicide tourism as an individual choice grounded on a desire for autonomy and self-determination 2/Dignitas as an 'emergency exit' 3/the law on assisted suicide as outdated and coercive, and 4/dying in Switzerland as a 'good death'.