Fundamental Rights and the Decision to Die. Constitutional Discourse on the Example of the Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court of February 26, 2020
In the judgment dated February 26, 2020, the German Federal Constitutional Court (“FCC”) found the provision of the Criminal Code penalizing “professional” assistance in suicide inconsistent with the German Constitution. This judgment deserves attention, inter alia, due to the theses presented in it about the close relationship between the right to assisted suicide and the protection of human dignity, and about the extremely wide scope of this right. The presented considerations, taking into account the decisions of other constitutional courts in the field of assisted suicide, focus on the structure of the FCC’s arguments, its axiological premises and potential implications for a wider debate on the admissibility of assisted suicide and euthanasia conducted in the context of fundamental rights.