Issues 175-151

Issue 162: Strätling, Meinolfus u.a.: Die gesetzliche Regelung der Patientenverfügung in Deutschland. Eine interdisziplinäre Analyse rechts- und gesellschaftpolitischer Gestaltungsspielräume im Spannungsfeld zwischen ärztlicher und sozialer Fürsorge, Respekt vor der Selbstbestimmung des Patienten, Schadensvermeidung und Lebensschutz. June 2005

The authors discuss current proposals of legally resolving ongoing debates on advance directives and (surrogate) decision making towards the end of life in Germany. On the base of an interdisciplinary analysis they conclude that the present debate in Germany largely fails to focus on the true problems of end-of-life decision making, that it therefore has to be re-focused and that there is ethically and legally no realistic alternative to a quite ”liberal solution“ to these questions, as proposed e.g. by the federal ministry of justice.