Bundestag tackles a hot topic: Three proposals for euthanasia - that's what it's all about
Created: 05/18/2022, 02:14 p.m
By: Magdalena von Zumbusch
The plenary session of the Bundestag in Berlin.
There, on May 18, MPs will debate the future of euthanasia in Germany.
© Christoph Soeder/dpa
A controversial ruling overturned the ban on euthanasia in Germany in 2020.
The Bundestag is now discussing what forms euthanasia may take.
Berlin – In the Bundestag, an orientation debate on a possible new regulation of suicide assistance was on the agenda for Wednesday.
According to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, the assistance of third parties in suicide
is generally permissible.
In 2020, the ban on so-called commercial, i.e. organized, assisted suicide was abolished.
Parliament is now trying to pass a law that does not curtail self-determination, but at the same time rules out the abuse of deadly drugs.
The government has not presented a draft law, so drafts should come from the members of the Bundestag, as with the vaccination debate.
So far there are three proposals.
All three envisage an amendment to the Narcotics Act to allow - for the first time in Germany - the dispensing of the drugs necessary to commit suicide.
However, the proposals formulate different forms of the law, above all different conditions for the prescription of the deadly drugs.
Ban euthanasia in principle again - with exceptions, according to the first proposal in the Bundestag
A group of MPs led by Lars Castellucci (SPD), Ansgar Heveling (CDU), Kirsten Kappert-Gonther (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Benjamin Strasser (FDP) and Kathrin Vogler (Left Party) are fundamentally opposed to the development that has taken place since 2020 .
She again proposes a ban on commercial assisted suicide.
Under certain conditions, however, she should remain unpunished.
The regulation would thus be similar to that for abortion.
Counseling before making a decision would also be mandatory in the case of euthanasia - according to the plan, two examinations by a psychiatrist or psychotherapist at least three months apart should be mandatory in advance.
The investigations should determine whether the decision was based on the free will of the person concerned.
The group also calls for an expansion of suicide prevention and palliative care services.
Because: The new euthanasia law should not have to compensate for failures in psychological or psychiatric care and pain therapy.
This group's draft law is the only proposal that has been formally submitted to the Bundestag to date.
Video: Austria recently paved the way for assisted suicide
Impunity for euthanasia should remain - but advice is important, according to the second proposal
The draft by MPs Katrin Helling-Plahr (FDP), Helge Lindh (SPD), Petra Sitte (Left Party) and Till Steffen (Green Party) places the emphasis on enforcing the right to self-determined dying.
"Anyone who wants to end their life out of an autonomously formed free will has the right to seek help in doing so," it says.
The group rejects the criminal law regulation of euthanasia, the subject should be regulated outside of criminal law: A (better) network of counseling centers for those affected should be set up, for which the federal states should be responsible.
In order to document the free will of the decision, this regulation would also require counseling from those willing to die, which is intended to explain the meaning, scope, consequences of a (failed) suicide and alternatives.
The third suggestion: Two doctors provide their assessment - also advice for healthy people who are willing to die
The draft by the Greens MPs Renate Künast and Katja Keul also affirms and emphasizes the right to self-determined death as determined by the Federal Constitutional Court.
The politicians propose that in a medical emergency, the treating physician of a person wishing to die should decide whether to prescribe a lethal drug.
A second doctor must confirm the assessment in writing.
The person concerned must then take the prescribed medication themselves.
The prerequisite for the prescription of the deadly drugs should be that, according to medical assessment, free will is decisive for the decision and the wish to die can no longer be changed in the foreseeable future.
Those who wish to die and who do not have a serious illness should also have to go through counseling and declare their wish to die to the responsible state office.
If the remedy is not taken within a year, it must be returned according to the draft of this group.
(
mvz with dpa
)
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