On the 7th of October 2013, a panel of 5 judges decided to accept the refferral of the judgment in the case of Gross v. Switzerland to the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR.
This case concerns the complaint of an elderly woman, who wishes to end her life but does not suffer from a clinical illness, that she was unable to obtain the Swiss authorities’ permission to be provided with a lethal dose of a drug in order to commit suicide. In its Chamber judgment of 14 May 2013 the Court found that there had been a violation of Article 8 of the ECHR. The ECtHR found that
"Swiss law, while providing the possibility of obtaining a lethal dose of a drug on medical prescription, did not provide sufficient guidelines ensuring clarity as to the extent of this right. This uncertain situation was likely to have caused Ms Gross a considerable degree of anguish. At the same time, the Court did not take a stance on the question of whether she should have been granted the possibility to acquire a lethal dose of medication allowing her to end her life."
The press release can be found here.
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