German euthanasia group says it will only carry out assisted suicides on people vaccinated against Covid-19

• The German euthanasia group has said that prospective clients must comply with the 2G rule.
• Requires people to be fully vaccinated against or have recently recovered from Covid-19.
• The clinic stated that the rule applied to their clients because euthanasia involves ‘human closeness.’

A German euthanasia group has said that clients must receive the Covid-19 vaccine before they can undergo assisted suicide.

The German Euthanasia Association Verein Sterbehilfe has announced that clients hoping to use their services will have to meet the country’s 2G rule. This states that businesses can choose to only allow entry to those who are vaccinated (‘geimpft’ in German) or have recovered (‘genesen’) from the virus.

The clinic said euthanasia and preparatory examinations require ‘human closeness’ meaning that those involved must be in close physical contact, as required by German law.

According to a statement released on November 19, the Association said that ‘euthanasia and the preparatory examination of the voluntary responsibility of our members willing to die require human closeness.’

However, ‘Human closeness’ is unfortunately a requirement for coronavirus transmission. As of today, people in our association are required to stay two meters apart at all times, supplemented by situation-related measures, such asquick tests before encounters in closed rooms.

The statement explained that the decision to was based on how difficult it would be to protect their members, employees and doctors while still continuing with every day tasks.

The majority of Germany’s population is fully vaccinated against the disease, but recent officials have said that a surge in cases is due to the ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated.’

The implementation of the 2G rule has led to public backlash in Germany, where many establishments would prefer to follow the 3G rule. This allows those with a negative coronavirus test result to be served instead.  

The new guidelines apply to all recreation, entertainment, and dining establishments as well as personal service businesses like hotels and spas. They can now ditch the old social distancing and mask-wearing protocols.

In an effort to get more German adults vaccinated, authorities have proposed a series of punishments for those who don’t take the jab.

On Tuesday, Germany saw 45,753 new coronavirus cases and 388 related deaths. Although this is tragic news, there is a sliver of good news as well; for the first time in three weeks, the seven-day incidence of cases per 100,000 people has fallen slightly.

The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported that, in the last week, 452.2 out of every 100,000 people were infected. This is down from Monday’s report of 452.4 and the first fall since early November.

Although the number of new cases is still increasing, it has been doing so at a much slower pace in the last few days.

In recent weeks, as German hospitals have become overwhelmed by the fourth wave of the pandemic, Germany has introduced restrictions on unvaccinated people and sought to speed up the roll-out of booster shots.

On Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her designated successor Olaf Scholz will meet with regional leaders to discuss how to respond to the crisis caused by the new Omicron variant.

Recently, many politicians have been requesting stricter measures to be put in place as intensive care units throughout Germany are becoming overwhelmed. 

In a landmark ruling in February 2020, German lawmakers overturned an earlier ban on assisted suicide. The judgement decided that a 2015 law banning professional assisted suicide was unconstitutional.

The eyebrow-raising decision stated that people have ‘the right to a self-determined death’, and that the right to assisted suicide services should not be limited.

The judgement was a large win for those who are terminally ill, their doctors, and organizations that assist with suicide. These groups filed the case because they believed that the current law is too extreme.

This topic is quite sensitive in Germany, as the Nazis used the term “euthanasia” to brutally kill around 200,000 disabled people during their reign.

The existing law, Paragraph 217, was passed in 2015 with the intent to prevent associations from forming that would help patients die. Medical personnel also faced prosecution for prescribing drugs that would end a patient’s life.

A ruling in 2017 lifted the ban on lethal medication, confusing doctors about what they could and couldn’t do.

The plaintiffs argued that, according to the German constitution, all individuals are allowed personal freedom and dignity–including the right to choose when they die.

The court sided with the parents, finding that Paragraph 217’s restrictions made it ‘impossible’ for people to receive help from third party professionals in Germany. Before, anyone caught breaking this law would face a fine or up to three years in prison.

German patients were forced to turn to family and friends for help, with some receiving life-ending medication from other countries.

At the time, Judge Vosskuhle stated that while those who wanted to offer suicide assistance must be legally allowed to do so, they shouldn’t feel obligated.