Germany's highest court has ruled that a 2015 law banning professional assisted suicide was unconstitutional, as it robbed terminally ill patients of "the right to a self-determined death".
Known as Paragraph 217, the 2015 legislation penalised anyone offering assisted suicide as a professional service, whether they accepted payment or not. It is a particularly sensitive subject in Germany as the Nazis used what they euphemistically called "euthanasia" to exterminate around 200,000 disabled people.
For seriously ill patients who have chosen to end their life, the existing legislation made it "almost impossible to carry out that decision in a dignified manner", said Christoph Knauer, who represented two of the plaintiffs. Judge Vosskuhle said Paragraph 217 "also violates the basic rights of persons and associations who wish to provide suicide assistance".Berlin's Archbishop Heiner Koch urged the court to "send a strong signal for the protection of lives".
Judge Vosskuhle acknowledged that the ruling would be a blow to supporters of Paragraph 217 but said the wishes of those wishing to end their lives had to be respected.
Hopefully the same will happen here in the not too distant future.
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