Overview
- A spokesperson for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für humanes Sterben confirmed that Alice and Ellen Kessler chose assisted suicide, with reporting indicating they had engaged the group more than six months earlier.
- Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that individuals may seek help to end their lives if the decision is autonomous and responsible, a scope that also includes psychiatric illness.
- Active euthanasia remains illegal in Germany and can carry prison terms, while assisted suicide requires the patient to self-administer the lethal substance.
- With no detailed statute after failed 2023 bills, access in Germany is largely organized by groups such as DGHS, which require membership, preparatory interviews, physician oversight, a legal witness, and post-death notification to police.
- In Italy, Constitutional Court rulings 242/2019 and 135/2024 permit assisted suicide only under strict conditions verified by the public health service, with advocacy data citing 16 authorizations, 12 carried out, and 7 assisted by Associazione Luca Coscioni, as debate continues and the health minister points to parliamentary action.