German allies of Dignitas want to test the law.

The
German branch of the Swiss assisted suicide group Dignitas is seeking
to help someone die to see if helpers will be prosecuted under German
law. The deputy director of Dignitate, Uwe-Christian Arnold, told
Deutsche Welle that the present state of the law was
ambiguous. Dignitate’s plans have unleashed a storm of protest
because people associate euthanasia with the Nazis. However Mr Arnold
claims that the German medical association is spurning a very
sensible proposal for “a pressing social need” because it has a
guilty conscience over its links to Nazi atrocities. He insists that
voluntary euthanasia is “quite different from what the Nazis did”.
He is hopeful that euthanasia will be legalised: “Because of the
churches and the medical association, abortion was also completely
taboo here for years, and nowadays we can perform abortion here just
like in England and other countries.” ~ Deutsche
Welle, Nov 23

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Michael Cook

Michael Cook edits BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter, and MercatorNet, an on-line magazine whose focus is human dignity. He writes from Sydney, Australia.

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