The Bundestag, which is currently debating the subject of end of life, has just ruled on a forthcoming ban on the exercise of suicide aid associations.
It is a sensitive subject, which crystallizes social debates: assisted suicide. It is the turn of our neighbors across the Rhine to debate it in Parliament. On November 6, 2015, German parliamentarians adopted a law firmly banning assisted suicide on a commercial basis. The project was supported by the German Chancellor.
Thus, Germany will henceforth punish people who “will professionally help incurable patients to die”, indicates the Geneva Tribune, that is to say in an organized framework and with a profit motive. Those who broke the law would risk jail. On the front line, patient aid associations will therefore be forced to stop working in Germany.
The role of physicians in question
In addition, the law “leaves a gray area concerning the criminal liability of doctors who help a patient to die”, indicates Le Figaro. Because before this decision, it was authorized to provide a patient at the end of his life with a drug that could lead to his death. It was the administration of this drug by the doctor himself that was prohibited – a current legal situation which is moreover “one of the most liberal in the world”, commented RFI on his site.
Possible upsurge in recourse to Switzerland
Switzerland, for its part, follows legislative developments in Germany closely. Indeed, this border country is the only one in Europe to authorize assisted suicide – which is legal there – to non-residents. The number of Germans going there for help is therefore likely to increase.
In parallel with this tightening of legislation on assisted suicide, Germany adopted a measure aimed at facilitating access to palliative care for patients at the end of their life.
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