Zurich, yes to assisted suicide in healthcare facilities

Context

In brief

• In Zurich, 68,1% approve the new law
• Voter turnout: 47,6%
• Psychiatric facilities and prisons excluded
• 59,2% reject the teachers' law

Key facts

• Outcome on the healthcare law → 68,1% yes
• Turnout → 47,6%
• Outcome on the teachers' law → 59,2% no
• Requirement provided for → nursing homes, care facilities, hospitals and rehabilitation clinics
• Excluded → psychiatric facilities and prisons
• Counterproposal → popular initiative meanwhile withdrawn
• Cost feared by municipalities and cities → 83 million francs
• Estimated share borne by them → around 67 million francs

In Zurich, 68,1% approved the law requiring nursing homes, care facilities, hospitals and rehabilitation clinics to allow assisted suicide within their walls. Turnout was 47,6%. Keystone-ATS reports this.

The reform had been drafted by the Grand Council as a counterproposal to a popular initiative that was subsequently withdrawn. The text was contested by a bourgeois minority and by the Cantonal Council. The latter supported extending the requirement to nursing homes and care facilities, but opposed also imposing it on hospitals and rehabilitation clinics.

The scope of the approved law

The result therefore defines a precise scope. Psychiatric facilities and prisons are excluded from the reform. The situation indicated before the vote provided for the requirement only for nursing and care homes managed by the municipalities or on their behalf. The passage approved in Zurich adds hospitals and rehabilitation clinics, in the text described by the source, among the facilities required to allow assisted suicide.

The Zurich ballot also included a second law, dedicated to teachers' working conditions. The proposal was rejected by 59,2% of voters. For teachers responsible for classes, the annual hours allocated to additional activities would have risen from 100 to 160, including meetings with parents and the organization of school trips. The lesson factor would have risen from 58 to 59, with more paid time for preparation.

The education reform was supported by the teachers' association, but opposed by 99 municipalities and cities, backed by UDC and PLR. Their objection concerned additional costs of 83 million francs, of which around 67 million would have been borne by them. For the section concerning paid time, the reader can compare the news with the practical guide on busta paga svizzera.

Operational details

The practical significance of the Zurich vote emerges from comparing the rule already described with the scope of the approved reform. The decision does not concern every care facility indiscriminately: the source names specific categories and also indicates two exclusions.

The difference between the rows of the table makes it possible to interpret the result without turning it into a general obligation. A municipal nursing home or care facility was already covered by the framework indicated by the source. Hospitals and rehabilitation clinics, on the other hand, represent the extension supported by the approved text, while psychiatric facilities and prisons remain outside it. The State Council had supported a narrower solution: in favor of the first two categories, opposed to including the other two.

The second outcome has a different organizational impact. With 59,2% voting no, the teachers' law did not pass the consultation: the proposal to increase the annual hours of teachers responsible for classes from 100 to 160 for supplementary activities was not accepted, nor was the proposal to increase the lesson factor from 58 to 59. The two figures described a project, not a change approved by the vote.

The issue of costs for Municipalities and Cities

The source links the opposition of 99 Municipalities and Cities to fears of additional costs of 83 million francs, approximately 67 million of them borne by the municipalities and cities. The teachers' association, on the other hand, supported the reform. This figure makes it possible to distinguish the sphere of teaching work from that of local spending: the former concerned hours, activities and paid preparation; the latter the allocation of the costs feared. For a broader look at everyday expenses in Switzerland, the site offers the guide to costo della vita in Svizzera.

Recommended tools

For an updated estimate, use the net salary calculator and the CHF-EUR exchange comparator.

Key points

To read the two results without conflating them, it is advisable to create a separate sheet for the healthcare part and one for the school-related part. The procedure can remain faithful to the published data.

Sheet for facilities

1. Identify the category: nursing home, care facility, hospital, rehabilitation clinic, psychiatric facility or prison. 2. Compare the category with the previous framework: the obligation indicated by the source applied to nursing homes and care facilities managed by the municipalities or on their behalf. 3. Record the approved text: hospitals and rehabilitation clinics are included; psychiatric facilities and prisons remain excluded. 4. Separate this verification from the position of the Council of State, which advocated extending it only to nursing homes and care facilities.

Sheet for schools and municipalities

Here, the first figure to record is the 59,2% voting no. The figures 100 and 160 concerned the annual hours of class teachers for supplementary activities; 58 and 59 were the assumed values for the lesson factor. They are therefore the figures from the rejected proposal, to be kept separate from the decision on assisted suicide.

For the local dimension, the sheet must also report the 99 municipalities and cities opposed, the support of UDC and PLR for their position, the feared additional cost of 83 million francs and the share of approximately 67 million borne by them. In this way, the reader separates the organization of school work from the financial argument cited in the source.

The paid-time item can be paired with the guide on busta paga svizzera, already relevant to the school proposal; for a personal simulation of the salary component, use calcolatore stipendio.

Source: swissinfo.ch