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“important today”
Johanna Klug accompanies people before they die. She says: “The dying are teachers for life”
Dying companion Johanna Klug says that talking about death can even bring people closer together
© Hendrik Nix
Austria is re-regulating the euthanasia legislation and will allow passive euthanasia for seriously and terminally ill people from 2022, subject to strict conditions. Dying companion Johanna Klug spends the last hours with people who were previously unknown to her. A conversation.
There is hardly any other topic that people are more reluctant to grapple with than their own death. Not least because of the corona pandemic, however, the subject of death has moved into the focus of society – especially in times with corresponding restrictions, when not everyone was able to say goodbye to loved ones.
In addition, there are always people who, for example, after a long and serious illness, make a self-determined decision in favor of so-called euthanasia. In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned Paragraph 217 last year, which banned so-called “business-like” suicide from 2015 to 2020. However, this also included euthanasia associations which, for example, support seriously ill people in making their own decision about death. The Federal Constitutional Court therefore said: Each person can decide for himself when and for what reason he or she will leave life. However, the dying person has to carry out the process himself – this is what is known as passive euthanasia.
Austria passed a new law on euthanasia
Now Austria passed similar legislation last weekend and from next year will allow a death will that works in a similar way to a living will. Permanently seriously ill and terminally ill people may, from 2022, in consultation with at least two different doctors, have a preparation prescribed so that they can independently determine whether or not they will die. As in Germany, however, the preparation must be taken by yourself. Minors are excluded.
© TVNOW / Andreas Friese
Podcast “important today”
Sure, strong opinion, on the 12: “Today important” is not just a news podcast. We set topics and initiate debates – with poise and sometimes uncomfortably. This is what host Michel Abdollahi and his team speak out for star– and RTL reporters: inside with the most exciting people from politics, society and entertainment. They let all voices have their say, the quiet and the loud. Anyone who hears “important today” starts the day with information and can have a sound say.
On this occasion, podcast host Michel Abdollahi speaks in today’s episode with dying companion Johanna Klug, who says talking about death can even bring people closer together: “We are born and the only certainty we all have is that we’re going to die. It’s something that binds us all together. ”
“I am not afraid of death”
The 27-year-old has been accompanying people, including children, for seven years shortly before her death and is no longer afraid of her own. She would also like to encourage others not to have to deal with their own death in the literal last minute: “In today’s society, it’s not just about the fear of death, but also about the fact that we occupy emotions with negative things. That too leads to us pushing death further away. ”
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