My Master’s thesis on physician-assisted suicide, its ethical permissibility and its implications can be found here. The thesis is written in German, however, to give you a brief introduction to my work, I invite you to read the following English abstract.
Abstract
Illness and suffering are an intrinsic part of life for many people, but dying and death is an immanent part of life for everyone. This, in connection with the constant advances in biotechnology and medical technology, makes the call for answers, especially to end-of-life questions, ever louder. For example, in relation to the desire to take one’s own life with medical help, because it has become unbearable due to illnesses that can no longer be endured. For many of those affected, living in dignity is subjectively no longer possible and there is no longer even the prospect of dying with dignity without assisted suicide. Among the disciplines of law, medicine, ethics, etc., there exists a pluralism of views and arguments on physician-assisted suicide, resulting in what appears to be an ongoing controversy and suffers a lack of clear guidance. This thesis hence focuses on the question of whether – and if so, under what conditions – physician-assisted suicide can be assessed as permissible from an ethical point of view and as a morally good action. A list of admissibility criteria was developed using relevant literature and taking into account own considerations. These criteria are to be understood as a foundation of rules for dealing with suicidal wishes with the help of medical assistance, namely to the extent that only if they are fulfilled can assisted suicide by a physician be considered ethically permissible at all. Based on the considerations, criteria emerged (A) on the social and socio-political level, (B) on the part of the person willing to die, (C) on the part of the assisting doctors and (D) those that apply equally to physicians and patients. However, this set of rules is merely recommended as a possible ethical orientation aid in combination with a conscious, sensitive and situation-specific approach.
