Anyone who wants to make use of assisted suicide can make a death will from 2022 – similar to the living will, as several ministries reported on Saturday. Access is restricted to the permanently seriously ill or terminally ill. Minors are excluded. A lethal drug will be available in pharmacies.
The regulation has become necessary because the Constitutional Court (VfGH) lifted the ban on assisted suicide in Austria at the end of 2021 – but not the ban on active euthanasia.
Before a death will be issued, two doctors must inform the patient. Then the dying person is entitled to pick up a lethal preparation from a pharmacy. A person can also be specified in the ruling to collect this product for the person concerned. The preparation must be administered independently. A period of twelve weeks must be observed before a ruling is issued. The aim is to overcome acute phases of crisis. If the sick have only a very short time to live, this period is shortened to two weeks.