Push of the FDP: Doctors reject sale of suicide funds for critically ill

The German Medical Association is positioning itself against new regulations designed to enable the seriously ill to buy medicines for suicide. "Doctors help with dying, but not to die," says the statement for a hearing in the health committee of the Bundestag this Wednesday.

It should not be an option for doctors to recommend or participate in active killing in difficult and hopeless situations. Also, extreme human emergency situations could not be solved with an official administrative act.

In 2017, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that, in extreme cases, dying wards should not be denied access to a lethal, pain-free dose of narcotics. Seriously ill people have the right under the Basic Law to decide how and when they want to divorce their lives. The Federal Ministry of Health, however, overrules the verdict.

Last year, the responsible Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) ordered rejection of citizens' requests. By October 2018, 115 applications had been filed there, 61 were denied permission, 21 applicants had died in the meantime (read more here).

FDP: Condition not possible for critically ill

The FDP now demands legal clarification in an application. According to this, severely ill and incurable sufferers should be able to acquire a narcotic for suicide in an extreme emergency. The current condition is not sustainable for waiting seriously ill people. Some would need to consider euthanasia abroad.

The Liberals demand that applications be "processed within a reasonable time". If necessary, a commission must decide on the applications on the basis of a medical opinion. "We want to create legal certainty for those affected and allow them more self-determination at the end of life," said the FDP member and medical lawyer Katrin Helling-Plahr in connection with the application in October.

In contrast, the German Medical Association emphasized palliative care as an alternative. The German Society for Palliative Medicine also refuses to provide narcotic drugs for suicide. There is a risk that a limitation to extreme situations would not be possible and a "state obligation to assist with suicide" could be created.

Although a respectful examination of the death wishes of patients to the medical tasks. First and foremost, however, options for alleviating suffering should be discussed and common ways should be found.