World

Germany ponders on changing assisted suicide laws

by rahul | July 4, 2008 at 07:32 pm

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Western world has had conflicting views on Euthanasia and assited suicide. To a certain extent, some forms of euthanasia are legal in Belgium, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S. state Oregon. Debates now goes to Germany where a former politician helped an old woman die. His assistance has caused a law revision.

Assisted suicide laws to change
Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:40:58

Roger Kusch (L), Bettina Schardt (R) Germany passes a motion calling for laws on assisted suicide to be tightened after a former politician helps an old woman die.

The politician in question is an ex-senator from Hamburg and a right-to-die campaigner, Roger Kusch. He advised Bettina Schart on how to prepare a lethal mixture of drugs to help the 79-year-old die.

The reason for the outrage that was brought about following Schart's death was perhaps because she wasn't actually suffering from any life-threatening illness. She was simply a lonely old woman who didn't want to end up in a nursing home, AFP reported.

What Kusch did to ensure that he wasn't doing anything illegal was to actually film Schart for a few hours prior to her death and then left the camera to record her death when she took the lethal drug mixture.

Another act that outraged the nation was that Kusch showed the footage a few days later.

It is worth noting that assisting someone to kill themselves is not illegal in Germany so long as you don't physically help them end their life.