Overview
- Federal drugs commissioner Hendrik Streeck questioned very costly therapies for the very elderly in a TV discussion, drawing strong pushback from church representatives, members of his party, and specialists.
- Streeck later wrote that he sought a conversation about responsible accompaniment at life’s end rather than a drive to cut health spending, warning of incentives that can encourage overtreatment.
- German Nursing Association chair Markus Mai rejected any fixed age limit for therapies, emphasizing that clinical decisions should reflect individual health status and potential reasons to stop treatment.
- Medical ethicist Jan Schildmann argued that proximity to death and diagnosis severity, not years lived, should guide care, citing research that people near death often receive very intensive treatment.
- Both reports point to the need for a political debate on limits and costs in healthcare that explicitly rules out age thresholds, with commentary cautioning against valuing lives by cost–benefit calculations.