German lawmakers fail to agree on new rules regulating assisted suicide

BERLIN (AP) — Lawmakers in Germany have failed to agree on new rules regulating assisted suicide. They voted Thursday to reject two proposals drawn up after the country’s highest court ruled that legislation banning the practice on a “business” basis was unconstitutional. The Federal Constitutional Court ruled in 2020 that the ban violated the rights of citizens to determine the circumstances of their own deaths. Physically taking a patient’s life is banned in Germany, but passive help, such as providing deadly medication for someone to take themselves has been a legal gray area. One of the defeated options would have allowed doctors to prescribe lethal medication between three and 12 weeks after an adult underwent obligatory counseling.