“We finally need a legal regulation of assisted suicide,” said Erwin Kress, Vice President of the Humanist Association of Germany, in Menden on Tuesday. “The fact that the Federal Ministry of Justice intends to ban commercial assisted suicide in accordance with the coalition agreement would not change the fundamentally scandalous situation in Germany,” says Kress. “It is unacceptable that suffering, seriously ill or very elderly people who want to end their lives deliberately and of their own free will are left alone or have to operate on the edge of legality. A look at neighboring countries such as the Netherlands or Switzerland, but above all Oregon/USA, could be instructive here”. The Federal Ministry of Justice (BJM) is currently working on a law that prohibits commercial assisted suicide and is directed against the activities of the associations DIGNITAS Deutschland and SterbehilfeDeutschland. A new criminal offense (§ 217 StGB-E) is to be created in the Criminal Code, which will criminalize the commercial promotion of suicide and prohibit this activity as an act that endangers life in the abstract. “From our humanist perspective, however, this starting point is completely inadequate,” says Kress. “With the draft law, the legislator would be putting the cart before the horse. Because suicide has long been a reality in this country.” Of the around ten thousand people in Germany who intentionally end their lives every year, 4,000 are over 65. The proportion of people in this age group who attempt to end their lives in this way is increasing. “However, there is hardly any state suicide prevention,” continues Kress. “People in old age are driven to undignified and risky forms of suicide because they can hardly reveal their suffering and hopelessness to anyone.” Instead of qualified advice and care, those affected are often met with rejection and indignation. “And in hopeless cases and in cases of severe, irreversible physical suffering, doctors are also not allowed to provide assistance for (non-punishable) suicide,” criticized Kress. This is prohibited by medical professional law. “In this way, people seeking help are driven into the arms of euthanasia organizations, which sometimes make the right to self-determination absolute.” As it cannot be assumed that the German Medical Association will abandon its boycott of assisted suicide of its own accord, the legislator must finally take action. Prior to this, a broad social debate is needed on the cases in which and the conditions under which professional help from doctors may be used to fulfill a dying wish. “The Netherlands and Switzerland, for example, have years of experience in this area. In Germany, however, we should rather strive for a legal regulation such as that which has been successfully introduced in American states such as Oregon and Washington,” says Erwin Kress. “Only within this legal framework should it be clarified that assisting the suicide of another person for profit or other selfish interests is to be punished. This should also apply to commercial advertising for assisted suicide,” says Kress.
“Legislators must finally set clear and appropriate standards for the area of assisted suicide.” Further information: Self-determination in the termination of life – Resolution of the Federal Main Committee of the HVD of June 16, 2012
