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4h ago

Germany's Constitutional Court Voids Federal Triage Rules Over Lack of Authority

The successful challenge came from intensive- and emergency-care physicians who opposed the pandemic-era framework intended to prevent discrimination against disabled and elderly patients.

Ein Hinweisschild mit Bundesadler und dem Schriftzug Bundesverfassungsgericht, aufgenommen vor dem Gericht.
Der Ärzteverband hat eine Verfassungsbeschwerde gegen die Triage-Regel eingereicht - mit Erfolg.
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Overview

  • The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe declared the Infection Protection Act's triage provisions invalid on November 4.
  • Judges found the federal legislature lacked competence to enact the specific triage standards contained in the law.
  • The annulled 2022 rules required decisions to be based solely on current, short-term survival probability and barred use of life expectancy or frailty.
  • Fourteen intensive- and emergency-care physicians filed the complaints in late 2023 with support from the Marburger Bund, and they prevailed.
  • The challenge targeted the law's ban on ex post triage, which doctors argued conflicted with their professional duty to save the greatest number of patients.