Euthanasia Judgment: The terminally ill have no right to narcotics to kill themselves

Higher Administrative Court of Munster
Court rules: No right to narcotics for suicide

The anesthetic sodium pentobarbital is used in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland as part of the euthanasia permitted there

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Terminally ill patients who want to end their lives in a self-determined manner have no right to purchase a lethal drug. This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court of Münster. But the legal process has not yet been exhausted.

According to a verdict, seriously ill patients who wish to die have no right to a lethal drug. This was decided by the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia on Wednesday, thereby confirming a decision by the Cologne Administrative Court. The lawsuits from seriously ill people from Rhineland-Palatinate, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg were already dismissed in the lower court. They are demanding permission from the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), based in Bonn, to buy the narcotic sodium pentobarbital in order to kill themselves.

According to the Narcotics Act, the Higher Administrative Court is convinced that no permit is possible. The legislature did not mean the use of an anesthetic to kill oneself, but to cure illnesses or ailments.

Judge: We are dealing with difficult ethical questions

Gudrun Dahme, presiding judge in the process, spoke of difficult cases at the start of the oral hearing. “But not necessarily legally. We are dealing with difficult ethical questions here,” said Dahme. “But we have to make legal decisions and are not an ethics council,” said the judge, also in the direction of the plaintiff.

In addition to the basic right to self-determined dying, it is about weighing up suicide prevention and preventing the abuse of narcotics. The state protection of life stands in contrast to the fundamental right to die.

According to the reasoning behind its judgement, the Higher Administrative Court now considers it possible in Germany to end one’s life with the help of a doctor or a euthanasia organization. The same applies to the plaintiffs. There is also an alternative to sodium pentobarbital. A self-determined death is also possible with a combination of different prescription drugs. “The basic right determined by the Federal Constitutional Court is therefore not in vain.”

The OVG expressed its regret that the Bundestag had not yet presented a law to regulate the problem in principle. “But because the Bundestag did not take action, no right to a permit can be derived from this,” said Dahme in the verdict.

The court and plaintiff’s attorney agreed that the Federal Institute could not solve the problem anyway. Doctors would have to prescribe the drug in the future.

The Higher Administrative Court allowed an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. The plaintiff’s attorney had already announced before the oral hearing that he intended to pursue legal recourse (Az.: 9 A 146/21, 9 A 147/21 and 9 A 148/21).

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DPA

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