SELF-ADMINISTRATION OR PRACTITIONER ADMINISTRATION? THE SCOPE OF FUTURE GERMAN ASSISTED DYING LEGISLATION

Abstract

In 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional and void a 2015 criminal law penalising suicide assistance in a recurring fashion and called into existence a right to a self-determined death, including the use of suicide services, where available. Due to subsequent legislative inaction, no holistic assisted dying legislation offering protection for vulnerable individuals is currently in place in Germany. Calls have been made for law reform in this area. This article contemplates the possible scope of a future assisted dying framework in Germany. It does so by focusing on the method of administration and analyses whether such a framework should be limited to allowing eligible persons to self-administer relevant lethal medications, which have been prescribed to them by a medical practitioner or whether, and to what extent, practitioners should be able to administer relevant lethal substances to patients. This is comparatively analysed while also keeping in mind any stipulations made by the German Constitutional Court in its 2020 judgment on the requirements of future assisted dying legislation. The article concludes that an assisted dying framework allowing a free choice between self and practitioner administration in Germany best complies with the guidance provided by the Constitutional Court.

Keywords: End-of-life decisions; Germany; future assisted dying framework; practitioner administration; self-administration; voluntary assisted dying.