Le temps qui reste – a Comparative Analysis of the Constitutional Jurisprudence on Suicide Assistance in Germany and Austria

Abstract

The Austrian Constitutional Court, such as the German Constitutional Court shortly before, has established the right to a self-determined death which includes the right to resort to assistance provided voluntarily by third parties for this purpose. It declared the encompassing criminalisation of assisted suicide under the Austrian Criminal Code (§ 78 variant 2) to be unconstitutional, stressing the importance of individual autonomy with respect to the decision on when and how one’s life should end. The German Constitutional Court declared the recently enacted prohibition of assisted suicide services (§ 217 German Criminal Code) to be unconstitutional. Both judgments provoke multiple legal questions which have to be addressed by the respective legislator when creating and enacting new regulation regarding the issue of assisted suicide.