Swiss Rights-to-die Organization Leader Ended with Assisted Death

The well-known Swiss rights-to-die organization Dignitas’ leader Ludwig Minelli has been reported to have died on 29th November 2025 before his 93rd birthday. 

It is disclosed that the cause is of an assisted death for the deceased leader at one of the clinics he himself helped establish. The organization’s spokesperson also remarked that Dignitas will continue to advocate for terminally ill adults’ rights to have assisted deaths while also offering the services overseas. 

Minelli, originally a journalist who later qualified as a lawyer, founded Dignitas in 1998 on the belief that people facing unbearable suffering should have a right to choose the timing and manner of their own death. Over his decades-long career he successfully challenged legal restrictions, including appealing cases to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), helping to cement the idea of “self-determined dying” under Swiss law. 

For many supporters, Minelli’s final act, which is using the very process he championed, is a deeply personal testament to his convictions. But for critics who fear a societal slide toward normalising assisted dying, his death also sharpens the ethical and legal debate around how we handle end-of-life choices worldwide.