A Swiss agency which helps people to commit suicide has begun to film the deaths of its clients to avoid future prosecution.
The Zurich based group, Dignitas, which was founded to help people with chronic diseases 'die with dignity', has introduced the measure on the advice of lawyers.
The agency's new insistence on filming deaths came to light when a 30-year-old Irishman, Martin Barry, was asked to sign a form agreeing to be recorded as he was helped to die last month.
Barry, from Cork, suffered from an advanced form of multiple sclerosis which left him in constant crippling pain. Volunteers from Dignitas recorded him as he assented to a physician administering a lethal dose of drugs to end his life.
Barry had provoked controversy in Ireland last October when he announced on radio that he would end his life with the aid of Dignitas. The freelance journalist and broadcaster said his suffering was almost intolerable.
'MS is a neurological illness and happens in 10 stages,' he said. 'I went from stage one to stage seven in less than five years. I do not want to endure a painful, cruel death propped up with morphine.'
It emerged last week that, with his condition deteriorating rapidly, he travelled to Switzerland less than a month ago. His family and close friends are understood not to have known of the trip.
When contacted this weekend, Dignitas director Ludwig Minelli refused to comment on the recording of clients' deaths or the case of Barry.
His death brings to five the number of Irish people who are believed have used the services of Dignitas. Approximately 30 Britons are thought to have died with Minelli's help and about 700 more are registered with the agency.
In the past, Dignitas, which claims 4,500 members worldwide, has been investigated for its part in the deaths of at least three foreigners, including a British couple and a 76-year-old Frenchman.
Although assisted suicide is legal in Switzerland, the law states that the person being helped must have a terminal illness and be of sound judgment.
