The regulation of assisted suicide in an open society: German Ethics Council recommends the statutory reinforcement of suicide prevention

Published: 19 December 2014

Following a public meeting on 27 November 2014, at which the German Ethics Council discussed assisted suicide, it published an Ad hoc Recommendation in December of the same year on regulating assisted suicide in an open society, emphasising the need for legal measures to strengthen suicide prevention. In doing so, the Ethics Council opposes commercially operated assisted suicide and advocates  the expansion of hospice and palliative care. It also recommends that assisted suicide should not be established as a social norm in order to preserve respect for life and to promote suicide prevention measures.