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A drop of insulin is on a needle tip
Photo: Rolf Vennenbernd/ dpa
A woman from Saxony-Anhalt who helped her seriously ill husband die with insulin injections has not made herself a criminal offence.
The Sixth Criminal Division of the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), based in Leipzig, ruled that it was not her but her husband who controlled the events leading to death.
He initially took pills on his own that were supposed to kill him – the insulin served primarily “to ensure death” according to the decision (Az. 6 StR 68/21).
The BGH assessed the event as a "uniform life-ending act, the execution of which alone" the man determined.
His wife, a former nurse, injected him with the insulin because it was difficult for him due to his illness-related impairments.
The man had suffered from various illnesses and great pains for many years and often expressed the wish to die.
On the day of his death in August 2019, he first took all the medication available in the house and then asked his wife to inject him with all the insulin he had, which she did.
He died from low blood sugar as a result of the high dose of insulin.
The tablets taken were also likely to kill him, but only at a later point in time, the BGH explained.
It was "ultimately due to coincidence that the insulin caused his death, while the drugs would only have developed their deadly effect at a later point in time".
The Stendal district court had sentenced the woman to a suspended sentence of one year for killing on demand.
On the other hand, she appealed to the BGH and was successful.
She had "made herself punishable under no circumstances".
The BGH ruled that this was merely assisted suicide, which was not punishable.
bbr/AFP