“Doctors must be able to help terminally ill patients who have expressly opted for a controlled end of life. This is a central principle so that human dignity can always be upheld,” explained Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, yesterday in response to a ruling by the Berlin Administrative Court on questions of assisted suicide last Friday. Wolf welcomed the ruling.
“For a self-determined life, it is essential that self-determination remains possible at and beyond the end of life. The support of experienced doctors is indispensable, which is why the restriction of their freedom of conscience and action must not be accepted here,” Wolf continued. The ruling is a “symbol of confidence” in the face of increased efforts to undermine fundamental rights and freedom of conscience in the area of assisted suicide. Wolf continued: “In our view, the only justifiable thing is to prevent assisted suicide for commercial, profit-oriented reasons.” A procedure for documenting an explicit declaration of intent, on the other hand, must finally be regulated and the Criminal Code regulation on killing on demand must be clarified with reliable exceptions. Secular-minded ethicists, lawyers and doctors who can make judgments independently of economic interests are needed here.
