Before euthanasia vote: Bishops’ conference urges “culture of life affirmation”
Bätzing: Assisted suicide must not be taken for granted
“As a society, we have to make sure that no situation arises in which an elderly or sick person or a person in an existential crisis finds a good infrastructure of suicide assistance rather than sufficient and appropriate framework conditions to trustfully go into care,” said the bishop on Sunday. Bätzing demanded that the new regulation of euthanasia must counteract the tendency for assisted suicide to prevail as a natural form of ending life. What is needed is a comprehensive legislative protection concept that tries to ensure as far as possible that the wish to commit suicide is one’s own responsibility and at the same time preserves an overall climate that is open to life and a culture of mutual care and attention.
Bundestag wants to vote on drafts on Thursday
The Bundestag wants to regulate euthanasia again next Thursday. There are two different motions before Parliament. The German Medical Association and medical societies had warned against a hasty decision in the last week of meetings before the summer break. The German Foundation for Patient Protection, on the other hand, has opposed the postponement of the planned parliamentary vote on euthanasia. “A postponement will not bring any new insights for the members of the Bundestag, because basically every member has to weigh up whether the planned mandatory consultations can protect the self-determination of those who want to die,” said board member Eugen Brysch. He further said the present drafts go beyond the concerns of the terminally ill. “Rather, they have an effect on people who are full of life, mentally ill or depressed. That’s why a clear no to each of the applications is the only chance not to increase the ethical dilemma.” A refusal does not in any way mean a ban on assisted suicide.
BVerfG judgment makes new regulation necessary
The new regulation became necessary because in 2020 the Federal Constitutional Court overturned a ban on commercial euthanasia that had existed since 2015. It saw the individual’s right to self-determined death violated. “Business-like” has nothing to do with money, but means “designed to be repeated”. The groundbreaking judgment opens a door for organized offers – expressly also with regulatory options such as advisory duties or waiting periods.
Editorial office beck-aktuell, July 3, 2023 (dpa).
Related Links
From the beck-online database
Schurz, Four perspectives on the fundamental right to self-determined dying, DÖV 2023, 553
Birklbauer, Selected aspects of the new regulation of punishable suicide assistance, NLMR 2022, 211
BVerfG, Unconstitutionality of the ban on commercial promotion of suicide, NJW 2020, 905
From the news archive
Legal committee discusses the new regulation of assisted suicide, report from the beck-aktuell editorial team of November 29th, 2022, becklink 2025518
Bundestag is struggling to reorganize euthanasia, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from June 24th, 2022, becklink 2023696
MPs call for self-determination at the end of life, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from June 22nd, 2022, becklink 2023655
Initiative for new regulations on euthanasia reintroduced, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from March 22nd, 2022, becklink 2022611
BVerfG overturns ban on commercial euthanasia, report by the beck-aktuell editorial team from February 26th, 2020, becklink 2015573