Nursing homes refuse assisted suicide to residents

The news magazine “profil” reported this on Saturday. Ombudsman Bernhard Achitz (SPÖ) called on the home operators to “accept” the possibility of assisted suicide without penalty provided for in the Dying Directive Act.

During their unannounced visits to nursing homes, the Ombudsman’s inspectors found a passage in the home regulations of several operators that prohibits residents from using assisted suicide in the home, as can be seen from a document from the Ombudsman’s Human Rights Advisory Board. The affected operators threatened their clients with termination of their home contract if they were caught preparing for euthanasia. Some home providers may also have prohibited their staff from advising residents about legal options upon request. It remains unclear in the document which homes these are, but according to “profil” there are indications that they could be religious institutions.

• also read: Suicide: a taboo topic that shouldn’t be one
• more on the subject: Assisted suicide: The rules in detail

Report commissioned

In any case, the Ombudsman commissioned its human rights advisory board to produce an opinion. In the document from December 2023, the expert committee comes to the conclusion that “the Dying Directive Act does not impose an obligation to cooperate (in the sense of active assistance obligations) on the operators of old people’s and care facilities, but does impose obligations of toleration with regard to the rights enshrined in the law.” Residents who express a wish to die “must be able to exchange information and information; they must also be able to exercise the rights and assistance enshrined in the right to a humane death in the facility in which they live.”

From the point of view of the Human Rights Advisory Council, the passages in the home regulations that prohibit euthanasia are “void”: “Operators of facilities are not free to contractually prohibit the exercise or enjoyment of a human right (euthanasia, note) on their premises, or . to threaten termination. Contractual claims have their limits where they negate a contracting party’s ability to self-determine through unreasonable restrictions.” The Human Rights Advisory Board also considers it “not permissible” for home operators to prohibit their nursing staff from informing residents about the possibility of assisted suicide. Because “due to a lack of mobility, clients are dependent on receiving all information directly in the facility”.

Death decree possible according to the law

In a written statement to “profil”, Ombudsman Achitz called on the home operators to “accept the possibility of unpunished assisted suicide provided for in the Dying Directive Act out of respect for the free decision of the residents.” He will “inform the operators of old people’s and nursing homes in which we have identified problems during preventive human rights monitoring.”

According to the law, people who are seriously or terminally ill and want to receive assisted suicide can make a dying order. Discussions with doctors are mandatory for this purpose. Two doctors must independently confirm that the person wishing to die is capable of making decisions and wishes to end their life voluntarily; one of them must have palliative medicine training. The death decree is drawn up by a notary.

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