Federal Health Minister Hermann Gröhe (CDU) has called for any form of “organized” assisted suicide to be banned. A draft law announced by CDU/CSU circles in February envisages making even assisted suicide by individual doctors a criminal offence. According to a broad alliance of humanist organizations, this is unacceptable. They are calling for the current impunity of assisted suicide not to be restricted in any way. Assisted suicide is not yet a criminal offence in the case of a patient who is capable of doing so voluntarily, neither for individuals nor for assisted dying organized by associations. “We want to convince politicians, doctors and the public that new bans are the wrong approach,” said Ingrid Matthäus-Maier, coordinator of the new alliance, at the presentation of the guiding principles in Berlin on Wednesday. “Stricter criminal laws in no way solve the actual problems that prevent self-determination at the end of life and dying with dignity in this country.” The guidelines now presented are supported by
- German Society for Humane Dying
- Humanist Association of Germany
- Giordano Bruno Foundation
- Humanist Union
- Dachverband Freier Weltanschauungsgemeinschaften
- International Confederation of Nondenominational and Atheists
- Association for Freedom of Thought Bavaria
supported. The guiding principles underline the right to autonomy and freedom of conscience protected by the Basic Law and call on politicians to guarantee that the will and actual needs of the individual are given clear priority. At the presentation of the guiding principles, Gita Neumann from the Humanist Association warned against the consequences of criminalization: “A criminal liability paragraph as a sword of Damocles only leads to new taboos and speechlessness. Patients at risk of suicide or willing to die will be even less confident to turn to a doctor they trust with existential needs. As a result, their circle of thoughts becomes narrower and narrower, leading to lonely and terrible suicides.” Only the respectful treatment of these people often opens doors to present alternatives at all. This is because many people are still unaware of the possibilities of palliative care, living wills or hospice visiting services. “There is no contradiction between palliative medical assistance on the one hand and the permissibility of organized assisted suicide on the other, and above all it should not be artificially constructed,” emphasized Johann-Albrecht Haupt from the Humanist Union at the presentation of the guiding principles in the Haus der Bundespressekonferenz. Elke Baezner, President of the German Society for Humane Dying, concluded by emphasizing: “People who can no longer reconcile their state of suffering with their personal values should be able to shorten their suffering and dying process on their own responsibility without paternalism from outsiders or moral accusations from other people. Competent, professionally qualified help to enable self-determined dying must remain unpunished”
