New sanction of physician-assisted suicide in German criminal law? - Critical considerations from a legal and ethical perspective

作者：Henking Tanja^*; Vollmann Jochen

来源：Ethik in der Medizin, 2016, 28(2): 121-134.

DOI：10.1007/s00481-015-0372-6

• Physician-assisted suicide
• Legal competence
• Medical professional law
• Criminal law injustice
• Ban of assisted suicide organisations

Definition of the problem In the current ethical debate on physician-assisted suicide in Germany new sanctions in criminal law are debated from different sides. Whereas in the beginning the debate focused only on the ban of organised forms of suicide assistance, the explicit licensing of assisted suicide is also now requested by physicians. Arguments Considering the approach to include prohibition of assisted suicide within the German Criminal Code, the article shows that the impunity of suicide and suicide assistance has a long tradition in Germany. The impunity of assisted suicide cannot only be systematically and factually justified, but also in terms of content. A criminalization can be neither legally nor ethically justified. Conclusion The authors advocate-with reference to different legal drafts in the German Federal Parliament (Deutscher Bundestag)-for an open discourse within the medical profession and for a revision of the professional law.

• 出版日期2016-6
• 单位河北医科大学