By Yvonne Dauer
In its session of 27 November 2015, the Federal Council passed a new assisted-suicide law. In the form of section 217 of the German Criminal Code (StGB), it makes the “business-like promotion of suicide” a punishable offence. An autonomous suicide, an attempt at suicide or participation in it, as well as the so-called justified discontinuation of treatment, formerly often called passive euthanasia, and indirect assisted dying remain unaffected by the new legislation. Business-like assistance in suicide, however, fulfils the elements of a criminal offence.
The new law is justified, among other things, by the increasing number of business-like assisted suicides and by the danger that ill or elderly people who are afraid of becoming a burden could be tempted or even pressured into suicide by such offers. There is also the risk that assisted suicide could eventually be perceived as a normal treatment option. Such a development into a service within healthcare is to be prevented. Instead, the protection of self-determination and the protection of the fundamental right to life should be guaranteed and preserved.
The law therefore provides as follows:
“Anyone who, with the intention of promoting another person’s suicide, grants, procures or mediates the opportunity for it on a business-like basis shall be punished under section 217 paragraph 1 StGB with imprisonment of up to three years or with a fine.”
“Business-like” is to be understood as conduct designed for repetition. A commercial orientation is not necessarily required. The term is therefore broader than “commercial promotion of suicide” used in a 2012 draft law. The perpetrator’s intention must relate only to promoting the suicide, not to the actual carrying out of that suicide. On the subjective side, it is required that the assistance to suicide be provided intentionally, that is, in a targeted manner.
Exceptions apply to persons close to the person wishing to die and to relatives who, out of compassion in a singular situation, provide assistance in suicide. Even if their acts can be described as participation in business-like assistance in suicide, these persons are not held responsible under the new offence if their actions relate to a single case and no business-like activity exists.
This text is based on the bill; its contents have been adopted in meaning and in some cases also verbatim.
