"The death of entertainers Alice and Ellen Kessler, aged 89, on November 17 at their home in the Grunwald district of Munich has sparked renewed calls for reform of Germany's assisted suicide legislation. The identical twin sisters reportedly organized a joint assisted suicide. "Their desire to die was well-considered, long-standing and free from any psychiatric crisis," said Wega Wetzel, a spokesperson for German Society for Humane Dying (DGHS), a Berlin-based assisted dying organization."
"The German Caritas Association warned that the "romanticized" media coverage of the Kesslers' deaths risked intensifying a societal pressure it had observed in recent years. "Older women, in particular, feel a responsibility not to be a burden on anyone and perceive assisted suicide as a necessary course of action to be considered," Caritas president Eva Maria Welskop-Deffaa said in a statement on the organization's website. The statement also called for a ban on advertising by organizations that assist in suicide, along with other legal regulations on assisted suicide."
"The number of assisted suicides is not reported separately in the official statistics on suicides in Germany. The DGHS estimates that 1,200 people nationwide died with the help of suicide assistants in 2024. In addition, there were an estimated 200 cases of assisted dying by individual doctors. According to the German Statistical Office, 10,372 suicides were recorded in 2024. That was 7.1% more than the average for the last decade."
Alice and Ellen Kessler, aged 89, died by an organized joint assisted suicide at their Munich home on November 17. A DGHS spokesperson said their decision was well-considered, long-standing and free from psychiatric crisis. The German Caritas Association warned that romanticized media coverage could heighten social pressure, especially on older women who fear being a burden, and called for banning advertising by suicide-assistance organizations and tighter legal rules. DGHS estimates about 1,200 assisted suicides with assistants and 200 by doctors in 2024, while official statistics recorded 10,372 suicides that year, 7.1% above the decade average.
Read at www.dw.com
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