Living with disability
Are people affected by thalidomide allowed to receive aid more than once? The Federal Constitutional Court says no
A bottle of the sleeping pill and sedative Contergan in a display case in the German Museum
© Frank Leonhardt / DPA
Thousands of children were born with deformities because of the sleeping pill Contergan. A man wanted to have various compensations taken into account – and now failed in court.
Between 1958 and 1962, around 10,000 children worldwide were born with severe limb deformities and other physical defects, often with shortened arms or legs – their mothers had taken the thalidomide-containing sleeping pill and sedative Contergan from the German pharmaceutical company Grünenthal during pregnancy.
Contergan victim loses court case
Since 1972, the state Contergan Foundation has been making pension payments and other benefits to people affected by thalidomide at home and abroad. The plaintiff from Ireland receives benefits from the Irish state in addition to the German thalidomide pension because of his thalidomide damage. These payments have been offset against his thalidomide pension since 2013. He went to court against this.
The Federal Administrative Court referred the matter to the Federal Constitutional Court. That decided: The challenged passage of the law on the Contergan Foundation for Disabled People (Contergan Foundation Act) is constitutional. The offsetting regulation does encroach on the property rights of thalidomide pension recipients. However, the intervention is justified. “The regulation prevents double benefits and thus avoids impairment of the equality of benefit recipients,” said the Federal Constitutional Court (1 BvL 6/21 – decision of November 21, 2023).