Editing Assisted suicide (section)

===Germany===
Killing somebody in accordance with their demands is always illegal under the [[Strafgesetzbuch|German criminal code]] (Paragraph 216, "Killing at the request of the victim").<ref>{{cite web
| title = German Criminal Code
| publisher = German Federal Ministry of Justice
| url = http://bundesrecht.juris.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#StGB_000P216
| access-date = 9 July 2013
| archive-date = 20 April 2010
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100420053742/http://bundesrecht.juris.de/englisch_stgb/englisch_stgb.html#StGB_000P216
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

That said, assisting suicide is now generally legal as the [[Federal Constitutional Court]] has ruled in 2020 that it is generally protected under the [[Basic Law]]. This milestone decision overturned a ban on the commercialization of assisted suicide and set out an entirely new course for countries or jurisdictions contemplating such a provision.<ref name=BradeFriedrich>{{cite news |vauthors=Brade A, Friedrich R |title=Stirb an einem anderen Tag |url=https://verfassungsblog.de/stirb-an-einem-anderen-tag/ |access-date=17 January 2021 |work=Verfassungsblog |date=16 January 2021 |archive-date=6 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206115405/https://verfassungsblog.de/stirb-an-einem-anderen-tag/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Since suicide itself is legal, assistance or encouragement is not punishable by the usual legal mechanisms dealing with complicity and incitement (German criminal law follows the idea of "accessories of complicity" which states that "the motives of a person who incites another person to commit suicide, or who assists in its commission, are irrelevant").<ref name=Wolfslast2008>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-6496-8_8 |chapter=Physician-Assisted Suicide and the German Criminal Law |title=Giving Death a Helping Hand |series=International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine |year=2008 | vauthors = Wolfslast G |volume=38 |pages=87–95 |isbn=978-1-4020-6495-1 }}</ref> Whereas the traditional approach for establishing an assisted dying service has always been based on identifying criteria for who was eligible for it predicated on a view regarding a person's acceptable quality of life (e.g. condition of health or illness), the ruling by the German court stated that government in pluralist societies can not do so as it would violate one's autonomy, the principle of person-state separation. That suggests an alternative model for an assisted dying regime similar to that in Switzerland where no government legislated regime was created but where the provision has existed for decades.<ref>Dankwort, J. 6 April 2023.Overcoming impediments to medically assisted dying: A signal for another approach? Journal of Medical Ethics Forum. Accessed 14 September 2023. https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2023/04/06/overcoming-impediments-to-medically-assisted-dying-a-signal-for-another-approach/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023055504/https://blogs.bmj.com/medical-ethics/2023/04/06/overcoming-impediments-to-medically-assisted-dying-a-signal-for-another-approach/ |date=23 October 2023 }}</ref>

====Travel to Switzerland====
Between 1998 and 2018 around 1,250 German citizens (almost three times the number of any other nationality) travelled to [[Dignitas (non-profit organisation)|Dignitas]] in Zurich, Switzerland, for an assisted suicide, where this has been legal since 1998.<ref name=Statistiken>{{Cite web | url=http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=72&lang=de | title=Statistiken | access-date=23 April 2020 | archive-date=5 December 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205233500/http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&Itemid=72&lang=de | url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=April 2020}}<ref name=pmid12560284>{{cite journal | vauthors = Hurst SA, Mauron A | title = Assisted suicide and euthanasia in Switzerland: allowing a role for non-physicians | journal = BMJ | volume = 326 | issue = 7383 | pages = 271–273 | date = February 2003 | pmid = 12560284 | pmc = 1125125 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.326.7383.271 }}</ref> Switzerland is one of the few countries that permit assisted suicide for non-resident foreigners.<ref name="assistedsuicide.org">{{Cite web | url=http://www.assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html | title=Assisted Suicide Laws Around the World – Assisted Suicide | access-date=22 July 2015 | archive-date=11 August 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811170601/http://assistedsuicide.org/suicide_laws.html | url-status=live }}</ref>

====Physician-assisted suicide====
Physician-assisted suicide was formally legalised on 26 February 2020 when Germany's top court removed the prohibition of "professionally assisted suicide".<ref>{{cite news |title=Germany overturns ban on professionally assisted suicide |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51643306 |access-date=26 February 2020 |archive-date=12 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712200318/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51643306 |url-status=live }}</ref>