Overview
- The First Senate declared Paragraph 5c of the 2022 Infection Protection Act unconstitutional for exceeding federal legislative competence.
- The judges found the provisions unjustifiably interfered with physicians’ professional freedom and therapeutic responsibility.
- Two complaints by 14 intensive- and emergency-care physicians, supported by the Marburger Bund, prevailed in cases 1 BvR 2284/23 and 1 BvR 2285/23.
- The annulled rules had confined allocation decisions to short‑term survival probability and banned ex‑post triage to avoid disadvantaging disabled or elderly patients.
- The decision takes immediate effect, voiding the federal scheme and leaving future triage regulation to the Länder; the ruling passed by a 6–2 vote.