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Echoes of Nazi Germany: Euthanasia Legalized by Germany Supreme Court

by Margaret Datiles 

Last week the Federal Court of Justice, Germany’s highest court, legalized assisted suicide by reversing the conviction of Wolfgang Putz, a lawyer who was previously convicted of attempted manslaughter for advising a woman to cut her mother’s feeding tube. This is a landmark case in Germany, where the issue of euthanasia is a particularly sensitive and controversial topic in light the Nazi’s Aktion T-4 program, a mass euthanasia program for those deemed “unfit to live.” 

Recent studies have shown that in countries where assisted suicide is legal, involuntary euthanasia routinely takes place in hospitals and hospices. Safeguards built into laws to prevent this have been highly ineffective. Germany’s new ruling on assisted suicide is a subtle but sure step towards involuntary euthanasia of the sick, elderly, disabled and others considered “unfit to live” in Germany.

The case before the Court involved Erika Kuellmer, a 71-year-old woman who slipped into a coma after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Upon the advice of Putz, Kuellmer’s daughter cut her mother’s feeding tube with a pair of scissors. Nurses reinserted the feeding tube, but Kuellmer died a few days later. 

Putz stated in court that Kuellmer’s family decided that her life was no longer worth living. In light of this, he advised the daughter to cut the feeding tube, even if such action was against the direct orders of Kuellmer’s medical care takers. Although the daughter insisted that Kuellmer expressed verbally that she did not want artificial nutrition and hydration, no written consent for the removal the feeding tube exists.

Euthanasia without proper patient consent is on the rise in Europe. In May of this year, the Canadian Medical Association issued a study of euthanasia in Belgium. The study is entitled, “Physician-assisted deaths under the euthanasia law in Belgium: a population-based survey.” The study found that over 30 percent of assisted suicides were performed without the consent of the patient. Of those that were performed without consent, the decision was never even discussed with the patient in 77.9% of those cases.

“Family burden” was reported as one of the main reasons for involuntary euthanasia in Belgium. In many cases, patient conditions “had unpredictable end-of-life trajectories” – in other words, some patients were involuntarily euthanized even if death was not foreseeable. The study also stated that involuntary euthanasia occurred mostly in patients over 80 years old, indicating possible abuse of the elderly. 

In addition to this study, statistics provided by the Belgian government show that the number of assisted suicides in Belgium have increased by at least 40 percent since the practice was legalized. It is also reported that only one in four physicians report instances of assisted suicide out of fear of judicial problems.

Legal requirements for euthanasia in Belgium include written consent, a one-month waiting period and opinions by a second and sometimes a third physician. A study by the Belgian Department of Public Health’s End-of-Life Care Research Group revealed that these legal requirements were often ignored.

In addition to Belgium, the Netherlands has also legalized assisted suicide. A 2005 study showed results similar to those of the Belgium study – approximately 550 assisted suicides occur each year in the Netherlands in which the physician ignored the legal requirements for obtaining patient consent. 

Legalization of assisted suicide not only leads to involuntary euthanasia, but it also leads to the creation of a culture which undervalues the lives of a specific segment of the population (as was the case in Nazi Germany). Legal assisted suicide contributes to the creation of a society in which death is considered to be better than being sick, elderly or disabled.

Indeed, former Dutch health minister and deputy prime minister Dr. Els Borst has stated that the euthanasia law has destroyed the Netherlands’ palliative care system. If a country does not value the sick, elderly or disabled, there would be no reason to maintain a health care system for them.

In light of the overwhelming evidence of the tragic and dangerous outcomes of legalizing assisted suicide, it is surprising that the German supreme court would willingly sanction the practice. The results of the German court’s decision in the case of Erika Kuellmer are easily foreseeable. Unless the decision is reversed, involuntary euthanasia, the destruction palliative care and the selective devaluation of the lives of the sick, elderly and disabled are looming on the German horizon.

 

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)