Medical Parliament considers suicide prevention law to be indispensable

Medical Parliament considers suicide prevention law to be indispensable

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Mainz Suicide prevention urgently needs to be anchored in law. The 128th German Medical Association strongly urged this today. The federal government must implement the Bundestag’s mandate and present a draft law on suicide prevention.

Last July, Parliament approved a motion for a resolution to promote suicide prevention with an overwhelming majority and called on the federal government to develop a suicide prevention law by the end of June 2024.

The suicide prevention strategy presented by the Federal Minister of Health a few days ago is no substitute for this, emphasized the delegates to the Doctors’ Day. Although it contains the right approaches, it leaves the question of financing open. In addition, binding implementation of the strategy cannot be achieved without a legal basis.

For the medical parliament, the adoption of a law on suicide prevention is an essential basis for a new legal regulation of assisted suicide in Germany.

A suicide prevention law must be passed before or at least at the same time as a legal regulation on assisted suicide, the delegates confirmed. Suicide prevention in Germany must finally be placed on a permanently financially reliable basis.

When developing the law, the Federal Medical Association and suicide prevention specialists should be involved to a much greater extent than was the case when the Federal Ministry of Health developed the strategy now presented. The federal states should also be intensively involved, because suicide prevention requires joint action by the federal and state governments.

Background: In Germany, on average, more than 25 people die by suicide every day. In 2022, the number of suicides exceeded 10,000 (10,119) for the first time in eight years. This corresponds to a rate of 12.1 per 100,000 inhabitants and an increase of 9.8 percent compared to the previous year.

This means that more people die from suicide than from traffic accidents, murder, AIDS/HIV and illegal drugs combined. The 124th German Medical Association in 2021 had already called for suicide prevention to be focused on, expanded and consolidated in Germany. © ER/aerzteblatt.de

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