Having just read M.D. Harmon’s latest commentary on assisted suicide (“Assisted suicide, euthanasia betray any standards of decency,” May 29), I am compelled – from personal experience – to make a correction to at least one of his claims.

When he states that Switzerland’s Dignitas accepts “the depressed and the ‘weary of life,’ even those without any physical illness,” he is just plain wrong.

I helped a friend through the Dignitas process in 2010, and, working day and night as fast as I could to gather the required medical records and legal forms, it still took four months to get approval from Dignitas.

When my friend finally arrived in Switzerland (via a medical flight that cost more than $50,000), it took another three days of interviews with a Swiss physician. At every step of the process, she was asked if she was sure of her decision to die and reminded that she could change her mind and go home.

Dignitas was methodical. Though my friend was frustrated by their thoroughness, she was grateful for their assistance in allowing her to end her life as she wanted. She just wished she could have been at home.

Shelley Dunn

Portland

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