Overview
- The First Senate voided Section 5c of the Infection Protection Act for lack of federal lawmaking competence, deciding the case by a 6–2 majority.
- The court held the provisions unjustifiably interfered with doctors’ professional freedom, including decisions over whether and how to treat.
- Fourteen intensive and emergency physicians, supported by the Marburger Bund, brought the complaints, targeting especially the ban on ex-post triage.
- The 2022 statute had mandated decisions based solely on short-term survival probability and explicitly forbade ending one patient’s treatment to treat another with better prospects.
- Nationwide rules no longer apply, and the court said Germany’s states must craft their own triage frameworks; the decision was adopted on September 23 and published on November 4.