This organisation assists the terminally ill to take lethal doses of a barbiturate (commonly Pentobarbital sodium) which can be legally prescribed by a doctor.
[3] As it is not allowable to prescribe fatal doses of barbiturates for these people, he had to create suitable secure methods including the "exit bag" combined with helium or nitrous oxide.
Because of this, the public prosecution office in Basel accused him of "vermutete Beihilfe zum Suizid aus selbstsüchtigen Motiven" (supposed suicide assistance with egoistic motive).
Baumann was arrested and held on remand for 2 months in Basel for alleged involvement in a case of assisted suicide in Lucerne.
However upon his release from custody, he pledged to stop actively assisting suicide for the mentally ill until the matter had been legally clarified, but remained a consultant for his organisation "Suizidhilfe Schweiz."
The programme "Rundschau" on SF 1 showed Baumann aiding the suicide of a 60-year-old depressive and wheelchair user known as Heidi T. on 15 January 2003.
This court also found him guilty seeking material benefit in the case of the televised suicide, although he was later acquitted of this charge on appeal in September 2008.