“Life has a deep meaning in itself and therefore, its protection has top priority”

On the Euthanasia debate

by Martin Korden,* Bonn, Germany

(13 July 2021) edit. In the morning devotion printed here, German theologian Martin Korden describes in a few words the far-reaching consequences of the euthanasia debate.

It was a little more than a year ago when our country was suddenly confronted with the Corona virus.

That must have been the reason why a decision by the Federal Constitutional Court at the end of February went largely unnoticed – although politicians, doctors and members of the Ethics Council spoke at the time of a turning point in the legal culture in our country. It is about the decision to lift the ban on organised assistance in suicide.

What this is really about probably only became clear to the general public through Ferdinand von Schirach’s drama “God” – the film was shown on television at the end of November and addressed precisely this context: a 78-year-old is literally tired of life after the death of his wife and therefore wants to be administered a lethal drug.

Why not? In the subsequent vote, 71 percent of the viewers – and thus as a clear majority – basically agreed with the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, according to which every person should have the right to assistance in suicide – regardless of whether they are ill or healthy, old or young, it is part of their right to self-determination.

And it seems somehow plausible – at least in Schirach’s drama, in which a possible case is finally presented in person and not just reasoned through theoretically.

The 78-year-old no longer sees any sense in a life without his wife, nor does he want to be dependent on help at some point “drooling on tubes”, as it says in the film.

These statements are accompanied by experts who explain that without professional help, suicidal people are forced to choose brutal methods that are even more stressful for the relatives and often go wrong with terrible consequences. And then, at the end, there is a Catholic bishop, whom Schirach has recite theses from the Middle Ages.

Schirach had made it easy for the audience, complained medical associations and the long-time chairman of the Ethics Council, Peter Dabrock. The many initiatives to help patients who are tired of life were just as much ignored as the increasing possibilities of palliative medicine.

But there is one point in particular that even the Federal Constitutional Court pointed out as a looming danger after its ruling. Namely, that suicide is becoming an accepted normality in our society. Because with increasing age in expensive care constellations and depending on the surroundings, people could feel pressured to accept the offer of a then established assisted suicide.

Who hasn’t heard an elderly person say that they don’t want to be a burden to anyone? And the figures from the Benelux countries, where assisted suicide has been established for almost 20 years, speak a clearer language than shown in the film.

The number of cases has been rising steadily, and in recent years even massively, especially among senior citizens. It has long since ceased to be a question of the initial isolated cases.

Schirach’s drama is entitled “God” and in the subtitle it asks: to whom do our lives belong? I am aware that belief in a creator God can no longer count as an argument in a secularised society.

However, the resulting concept of man does: man does not live for himself alone. He is always in relation to his fellow creatures. The Christian concept of man lives from mutual solidarity.

With all self-determination, one can never ignore one’s fellow human beings. As those who suffer for a lifetime from the suicide of their neighbour. But also as those who have to keep an eye on their fellow human beings in a life crisis. Is not every suicide also a cry for help?

The fact that life is valuable in itself, that it carries a deep meaning and that the protection of life therefore has top priority, has always been considered the legal foundation of our society – this foundation has now become a slippery slope.

(Broadcast as a morning devotion on Deutschlandfunk on 24 March 2021)

Source: https://www.katholische-hörfunkarbeit.de/?id=3521

(Translation “Swiss Standpoint”)

* Martin Korden is the representative of the German Bishops’ Conference for Deutschlandradio. Contact: m.korden@dbkradio.de