Critics of Labour’s Assisted Dying bill fear that its vagueness means we are heading for trouble. Germany, where assisted suicide is legal, shows what happens when the law fails to spell out exactly what is allowed.
In 2020, Germany’s federal constitutional court decriminalised assisted suicide, deciding that a patient’s autonomy must be the overriding concern when granting them permission to go through with it. The ruling stated that every person should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they take their own life or not and that getting help from third parties would be legalised.
The German government hasn’t fully made up its mind on what it thinks of the morality of assisted dying
A person in Germany helping an individual who has chosen to end their life will not be penalised for doing so. The person who ends their life, however, must make that decision freely and takes on full responsibility, signing a lot of forms to show they understand this.
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