Since 1871, upon the inception of the Criminal Code of the German Empire (Reichsstrafgesetzbuch), suicide assistance in Germany relied on the principle that the assistance of a legal act cannot be considered illegal: if suicide is legal, it follows that assistance to suicide also has to be legal. However, in 2015, after being the subject of intense political debate in Germany, with four different law proposals being presented at the Bundestag in order to regulate the issue, a new law on assisted suicide was approved by the Parliament. Members of Parliament were granted a free vote from the official parties’ position, for the issue was considered a matter of conscience... [mehr]