Die Auswirkungen der Streichung des § 16 S. 3 MBO auf das BVerfG Urteil über § 217 StGB = The effects of the deletion of § 16 S. 3 MBO on the BVerfG judgment on § 217 StGB

The 124th German Congress of Physicians held in May 2021 decided to delete § 16 S. 3 MBO. The Congress gave as reason for the deletion the unconstitutionality of the clause. This article will show that, although the reasons presented by the Congress are insufficient to justify its claim, § 16 S. 3 MBO is still likely to be formally unconstitutional due to the violation of the principle of legal reservations. In the near future it might prompt all German states to remove the prohibition on physician-assisted suicide from the state physician professional code. If this does happen, the core argument of the judgment of BVerfG against the constitutionality of § 217 StGB will no longer hold and leave room for its possible constitutional interpretation. Consequently, the legislature would not need to develop a new protection concept with regard to § 217 StGB, i.e., Section 217 of the German Criminal Code.