The legal limits of euthanasia have been discussed for years – how does the Bundestag resolve the tension between self-determination and the protection of life?
More than two years after a groundbreaking ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, the Bundestag will deal with specific proposals for regulating euthanasia in Germany on Friday. In the first reading, three cross-party bills will be introduced in parliamentary deliberations.
The background to this is a judgment by the Federal Constitutional Court, which in 2020 overturned a ban on commercial euthanasia that had existed since 2015 because it violated the individual’s right to self-determined dying. “Business-like” has nothing to do with money, but means “designed to be repeated”.
Three initiatives
In mid-May, the Bundestag had already dealt with the topic in a fundamental debate without concrete drafts. The three initiatives from Parliament deal with rules for possible organized offers, including duties to advise and waiting periods. To this end, committee deliberations should first follow:
- According to the draft of a group of deputies around Lars Castellucci (SPD) and Ansgar Heveling (CDU), the commercial promotion of suicide should be made a criminal offense – but with an exception for adults. In order to determine their free decision to commit suicide without internal or external pressure, two examinations by a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy three months apart and a comprehensive open-ended consultation should be given.
- A group around Katrin Helling-Plahr (FDP) and Petra Sitte (Left) proposes a new regulation outside of criminal law. It should “legislatively secure the right to a self-determined death and make it clear that assisting suicide is possible with impunity,” as the draft says. A wide range of advisory services is planned. Physicians should be allowed to prescribe drugs for the purpose of suicide if they assume a “certain permanence and inner firmness of the wish to die”. As a rule, at least ten days should have passed since the consultation.
- A group led by Renate Künast (Greens) and Nina Scheer (SPD) is presenting the draft of a “law to protect the right to self-determined dying”. It aims to give those affected safe access to certain narcotics. A mandatory consultation should be given before submission. A distinction should be made according to motives: In the case of people in “current medical emergencies”, two doctors would have to confirm the requirements at intervals of two weeks. If you wish to die for other reasons, higher requirements should apply to prove the permanence of the decision. For this purpose, a state authority should check the requirements and then issue a certificate of access to narcotics that is valid for one year.
Patient advocates dissatisfied
The German Foundation for Patient Protection classified all three drafts as insufficient. If the Bundestag wants to regulate organized assisted suicide, the self-determination of those willing to die must be strengthened and protection against heteronomy must be guaranteed. “None of the three draft laws can meet these requirements,” said board member Eugen Brysch of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
The planned mandatory consultations missed reality. For example, the medical and nursing offers are currently not sufficient to strengthen self-determination and exclude heteronomy. Psychotherapy and care that preserves dignity are also often unattainable for many terminally ill, full of life or mentally ill people.
Brysch’s demand: the Bundestag must, as a minimum consensus, ban assisted suicide for money. In addition, the actions of the individual euthanasia practitioner should be the focus of criminal law. “His actions require the highest level of expertise and must undoubtedly ensure that the suicide is desired in a self-determined manner.”
Source: Stern
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