Nuremberg (dpa/lby) – In the discussion about a possible new regulation of euthanasia, the Diakonie Bayern does not pay enough attention to suicide prevention. “Without the expansion of suicide prevention – in the form of a corresponding law – a regulation on assisted suicide for the Diakonie is inconceivable,” said Diakonie President Sabine Weingärtner on Monday in Nuremberg. The prevention offers would have to be significantly expanded and given a legal and financial framework.
In 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe overturned the ban on euthanasia as a service. Since then, the legislature has been required to re-regulate this. Three cross-party drafts for a new law are now being discussed by the Bundestag committees after a first reading debate.
However, the sponsors and institutions of the Diakonie should already be dealing with the topic, said Weingärtner. “How a diaconal institution balances the individual right to self-determination on the one hand and the attitude of the diaconia to advise on life in practice is therefore initially a decision that has to be made at the level of the provider and their institutions,” says a now published Diakonie position paper on assisted suicide. “You must therefore open up spaces so that employees at all levels can develop an attitude in a joint discourse.”
A general answer as to how diaconal organizations and their facilities should behave when a resident expresses a wish to die cannot be given, it said. Diakonie board member Sandra Schuhmann emphasized: “We will not leave those people alone who want to choose such a path – even if it ultimately does not correspond to the diaconal understanding of values.”
