Terminally ill people are not entitled to lethal medication from the state. The Federal Administrative Court ruled that there are now other “reasonable options” for legally helping people commit suicide.
They are terminally ill and have been fighting for years to get a deadly drug from the state. They want to decide for themselves when their life is no longer worth living, when they no longer want to suffer because of their illness. Harald Mayer suffers from multiple sclerosis, Hans-Jürgen Brennecke has cancer. Both applied to the Federal Office for Medicines (BfArM) for approval to release a lethal dose of the drug sodium pentobarbital, citing their “fundamental right to self-determined death”.
Because the BfArM refused to hand it over, they sued their way through the courts. The third senate of the Federal Administrative Court has now decided: The plaintiffs have no right to the state helping them commit suicide. They do have the right to end their lives in a self-determined manner. However, there are other reasonable options for realizing the wish to die.
Euthanasia associations are now allowed to work again and doctors could also help with suicide. In addition, the risk of abuse and misuse justifies the ban on the release of the medication.
The court already established criteria in 2017
In March 2017, the Federal Administrative Court ruled in another case: The Narcotics Act only allows release for medical purposes, i.e. to cure illnesses. In very limited exceptional cases, however, the state is obliged to provide seriously ill people with medication for suicide, i.e. to grant permission to purchase it.
On the surface, this sounds like a contradiction to today’s ruling, but it is not. The Leipzig judges said at the time: Only when people are in extreme distress due to a serious and incurable illness does the state have to make exceptions. The prerequisite for the extreme emergency is, among other things, that “other reasonable options for realizing the wish to die” are not available.
Criminal law at the time prohibited assisting in suicide
When the Federal Administrative Court ruled in 2017, there was still a ban on “commercial promotion of suicide” in the Criminal Code. Euthanasia associations were not allowed to work in Germany and doctors were also liable to prosecution if they tried to help several people commit suicide.
At that time, seriously ill people who were willing to commit suicide only had the option of going abroad and getting help there. In Germany there was no “other reasonable option”.
The initial situation has changed
In February 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court overturned this ban in the Criminal Code. The personal right enshrined in the Basic Law guarantees a right to “self-determined life”. This also results in a right to “self-determined death” and this right includes the freedom to seek and receive help from third parties.
With this central message, Karlsruhe declared the ban on “business-like promotion of suicide” null and void. Since then, euthanasia associations have been allowed to work again in Germany and doctors are no longer liable to prosecution if, for example, they prescribe medication and thus help with the wish to die.
Even though the Federal Constitutional Court in 2020 did not address the question of whether the state must provide medication, the Karlsruhe decision had an impact on the current proceedings in Leipzig. The judges at the Federal Administrative Court now decided: Due to the fundamental decision by the Federal Constitutional Court, there are now “other reasonable options” for obtaining help for suicide. The conditions that would oblige the state to make the deadly drug available no longer exist.
public welfare concerns allow the ban
These other options were accompanied by difficulties for people wishing to die. That’s why the state is encroaching on their basic right to self-determined death. Because another medication is sometimes more difficult to swallow because it has to be taken in a higher dose. Medical assistance is required for intravenous administration.
However, this encroachment on fundamental rights is justified because the release of the medication could also lead to misuse or misuse. Simply storing the deadly drug is dangerous. The legislature should take this into account and regulate the prohibition of publication because of these concerns of the common good.
Alternatives for the plaintiffs
The state may no longer prohibit Harald Mayer and Hans-Jürgen Brennecke from making their own decisions about their death, it may no longer prohibit assistance in doing so, but it does not have to provide any medication for this.
The plaintiffs must and can now seek help from a doctor who could prescribe another deadly drug. Or they take advantage of the help of a euthanasia association.
Help with suicidal thoughts
If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide, please seek help immediately. With the anonymous telephone counseling service you can find contacts around the clock.
Telephone numbers for the telephone counseling service: 0800/111 0 111 and 0800/111 0 222 www.telefonseelsorge.de
Telephone advice for children and young people: 116 111 – www.nummergegenkummer.de