Five years after the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling, which guarantees the right of individuals in Germany to self-determined death, the Federal Medical Association is calling for a law on assisted suicide. The President of the Federal Medical Association, Klaus Reinhardt, told the “Bild” newspaper: “A legislative re-regulation of assisted suicide is necessary in the view of the Federal Medical Association to end the current unregulated state, which is just as problematic for people with suicidal thoughts as it is for doctors.”
“The leading thought must be to do justice to the individual’s self-determination and at the same time to prevent a societal normalization of suicide” Reinhardt said. The concept of protection, which the Federal Constitutional Court has declared necessary, is of central importance. “Special attention must be given to mental illnesses and psychosocial burdens in people with suicidal thoughts or death wishes.”
The President of the Federal Medical Association: “Under binding inclusion of psychiatric-psychotherapeutic competence, it must be ensured that people with suicidal thoughts are provided with sufficient consultation and support offers before making a decision to take advantage of assisted suicide.”
Furthermore, it must be ensured that people are protected from hasty decisions. In addition, the procedure must, in the view of the Federal Medical Association, provide legal security for doctors. “This is especially the case for doctors who, in the framework of palliative care, support severely ill and dying patients without providing assisted suicide” Reinhardt told the “Bild” newspaper.
“It remains a free and individual decision for a doctor to decide whether to provide help for self-killing in a specific individual case.” Even then, the help for self-killing does not belong to the exercise of the medical profession. “Doctors are committed to preserving life, protecting health, and restoring health, as well as alleviating suffering and supporting the dying until the end, and to respect the self-determination of patients.” The help in realizing the intention to take one’s own life belongs, however, not to the professional duties of a doctor. No doctor is required to provide help for self-killing.
The Federal Constitutional Court had abolished the previous ban on organized assisted suicide in Germany (Paragraph 217, Criminal Code) on February 26, 2020. A law on the regulation of assisted suicide has not yet been passed. Two drafts by parliamentarians had been rejected by the Bundestag in 2023.