In 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned the ban on euthanasia. For the new regulation, the Bundestag is now dealing with three cross-party draft laws. One of the group motions wants to make assisted suicide a punishable offence, another wants to open up safe access to narcotics.
The members of the Bundestag have controversially debated a new regulation of euthanasia in Germany. In the first reading, three cross-party drafts were introduced into the legislative process. The drafts, on which the formation of an opinion has not yet been completed, are now to be discussed further in the Bundestag committees.
Several MPs campaigned for a group motion that provides for a strengthening of suicide prevention. It should not be perceived as a normal means of ending life, said CDU MP Patrick Schnieder, who spoke for this group. “We want to prevent that,” said Schnieder. The group wants to criminalize the commercial promotion of suicide as a matter of principle – but with one exception for adults: In order to determine the free decision without internal and external pressure, two examinations by a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy should usually be carried out at intervals of three months and a comprehensive open-ended consultation.
Katrin Helling-Plahr campaigned for a more far-reaching draft law. The right to a self-determined death should be secured by legislation. It should be made clear “that assisting suicide is possible without punishment,” according to the draft. “I would like those affected to give every helping hand in the advice centers,” said the FDP politician. “But if they decide they want to go, we can’t leave them alone.” A wide range of advisory services is planned. Doctors should then 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.
Another group had presented the draft of a “law to protect the right to self-determined dying”. It aims to give those affected safe access to certain narcotics. Green MP Lukas Benner spoke in favor of this motion and said that euthanasia often takes place in a gray area today. This state of affairs cannot be left as it is. Instead, mandatory advice should be given before the dispensing of narcotics. 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.
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”. The verdict opened a door for organized offers. In mid-May, the Bundestag had already dealt with the topic in a fundamental debate without concrete drafts.
