No involvement of disabled people - CDU criticizes Lauterbach's draft law on triage
Created: 06/18/2022, 14:23
By: Linus Prien
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach © IMAGO/Jürgen Heinrich
Federal Health Minister Lauterbach has presented a new draft law on triage.
The SPD politician's draft promptly met with criticism from within the Union.
Berlin - The Union in the Bundestag is not satisfied with the draft law by Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach on so-called triage in the pandemic.
The submission shows that "the triage decision of the Federal Constitutional Court is being implemented only with great reluctance," explained the two CDU members of the Bundestag, Tino Sorge and Hubert Hüppe: "A real participation of people with disabilities is not planned."
Lauterbach criticism: CDU MPs draw attention to triage outside of the pandemic
The draft bill only takes into account triage in hospital intensive care units due to the corona virus for the future, the two Union politicians explained.
All other conceivable triage situations, such as a natural disaster, war or a terrorist attack, remain unaffected.
"In such situations, however, there is just as much danger that people with disabilities will be discriminated against," explained the health expert Sorge and the rapporteur for people with disabilities, Hüppe.
"Even the new draft does not give the state any means of finding out whether triage is taking place at all," the statement said.
This would require an obligation to report, for example to the health department.
Only then could the authorities also control the triage.
As before, the draft also refrains from imposing sanctions on violations, such as the principle of more than one eye, the need to consult a specialist, or the obligation to document.
Lauterbach: Draft law on triage is intended to prevent discrimination
The draft law, which became known to the AFP
news agency
on Tuesday
(June 14)
, states that no one should be allowed to participate in such a selection process “because of a disability, frailty, age, ethnic origin, religion or belief, gender or sexual orientation be disadvantaged".
Lauterbach sees the draft in line with the requirements of the Federal Constitutional Court.
In December last year, this ordered the government to take immediate precautions to protect disabled people during pandemic-related triage.
Otherwise, it is to be feared that they would be disadvantaged in the allocation of intensive care treatment resources.
The draft now presented by Karl Lauterbach stipulates that once a treatment has been started, it may not be broken off because of a new patient.
Lauterbach thus rejects the so-called "ex-post-triage" that was reportedly initially provided for in his original draft law.
(LP/AFP)