Protestant Bethel Foundation wants to tolerate assisted suicide

Despite ethical concerns, the von-Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel wants to tolerate assisted suicide in its facilities. As a major provider of clinics, hospices, homes and other facilities, Bethel will not make the fundamental right of its clients to self-determined death, as formulated by the Federal Constitutional Court in 2020, impossible; third parties should therefore be granted access to appropriate assistance, explained the former President of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia, Annette Kurschus, to journalists in Bielefeld on Monday. She stepped down as President and Council Chair of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) in November 2023. She now heads the Bethel Ethics Commission.

Assisted suicide is a diaconal challenge for Bethel, she said at the presentation of a legal opinion commissioned by the foundation. This is because assisted suicide is not compatible with the Christian understanding of life as a gift from God. For this reason, the von Bodelschwingh Foundation in Bethel had ruled out the establishment of its own assisted suicide programme by its own employees. This is because such a service could subtly exert pressure on elderly, sick and disabled people to commit suicide in order to relieve the burden on partners, relatives, friends or society.

At the same time, the individual's fundamental right to self-determined suicide must be respected and help for this should not be made de facto impossible. However, this does not mean condoning the decisions made. And: "The fact that we remain by people's side in pastoral care until the end does not mean that we are assisting in suicide."

No involvement in implementation

According to the information provided, the Bethel facilities themselves do not participate in the preparation and execution of an assisted suicide. In principle, they also have no obligation to check the requirements for a lawful assisted suicide. However, facilities could be obliged to intervene if the patient or resident does not have the freedom to decide.

According to the expert opinion, Bethel facilities also do not have to accept clients who primarily request assisted suicide by employees of the facility. The requirement is to encourage people to (continue to) live, "as long as this does not turn into paternalistic harassment or even active prevention of the use of basic rights".

The German Foundation for Patient Protection criticised the report drawn up by Münster-based medical law expert Thomas Gutmann. The constitutionally protected right to self-determination certainly allows non-profit organisations to prohibit access to euthanasia organisations - contrary to Gutmann's view, explained board member Eugen Brysch. However, the prerequisite is that organised assisted suicide is rejected at all relevant levels of the operator. "This no longer seems to be the case with the Protestant Church. This opens the door to death from the Yellow Pages," says Brysch.

In a sensational judgement in 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court postulated a fundamental right to self-determined death - regardless of age, illness or individual reasons. The person wishing to die could also call on the help of third parties.

The Catholic Church rejects the legalisation of assisted suicide and in particular the activities of euthanasia associations. It also insists that it does not have to tolerate assisted suicide in its hospitals, retirement homes or hospices. (KNA)