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Federal Constitutional Court Rejects Appeal in Assisted Suicide Manslaughter Case

By dismissing his constitutional complaint, the court cemented the neurologist’s three-year sentence for assisting the suicide of a patient deemed incapable of consenting.

Overview

  • Justices in Karlsruhe said the doctor failed to show any violation of his constitutional rights in the manslaughter conviction.
  • The Essen court ruled in February 2024 that he acted as an indirect perpetrator by administering a lethal infusion that the patient self-activated.
  • The Bundesgerichtshof upheld the three-year prison term in January after finding no procedural or legal errors in the lower court’s ruling.
  • Judges determined the patient’s acute paranoid schizophrenia prevented a free, autonomous decision on ending his life.
  • Since 2003 the doctor provided freelance capacity assessments for euthanasia associations and from 2020 conducted paid evaluations without a second medical opinion.