When is my will free?
A key concept in this context is what is known as ‘decision-making capacity’. ‘The decision by a person wishing to die to end their life must be made freely, of their own volition and without physical or psychological coercion,’ explains Platzer. The law provides for several safeguards to this end. Those concerned must first seek advice from two doctors, one of whom must be qualified in palliative care. Only after a three-month waiting period can a living will be drawn up at a notary’s office or with the Patient Advocacy Service. “This is intended to ensure the permanence of the wish to end one’s own life. The consulting doctors, the notary and the persons providing assistance – in the vast majority of cases, these are relatives – are legally obliged to verify the person’s capacity to make decisions,” explains the researcher.
Despite all these measures, many experts harbour doubts as to whether and how free will can be reliably assessed in such an existential decision. “This situation is particularly challenging for those providing assistance, who generally have no specialised training,” explains the moral theologian. This is precisely why various sources of overwhelm and stress arise. Platzer emphasises: “What is needed here, above all for relatives, is professional counselling and support. And there is currently hardly any professional support available for affected professionals in medicine, nursing, pharmacy and law either.”
Where is the lethal substance?
Once a living will has been drawn up, the lethal preparation can be collected from a pharmacy. However, experience over the past four years shows that there are still unanswered questions here too. Because: “Not every preparation collected is actually used. Some are returned, others remain in private households – as a kind of safety net,” the researcher notes. There are currently around 450 such preparations in circulation in Austria. This raises various questions: Where and how are they kept safe? Who monitors this, and who needs to be informed?
Furthermore, there is a lack of comprehensive, scientific accompanying research that brings together data from notaries, palliative care organisations and pharmacies. “How many advance directives have been drawn up, how frequently assisted suicide is actually carried out, what motives play a role in this, and what burdens relatives experience, would need to be systematically investigated,” emphasises Platzer. “With a law of such far-reaching implications, such an accompanying evaluation would be particularly important.”
A self-determined end of life?
From an ethical perspective, the researcher sees society facing a crucial question: “How can self-determination at the end of life be respected without leaving people alone in illness, loneliness or existential distress?” He argues that not only legal procedures are needed, but also counselling, comprehensive palliative care, hospice services, support for relatives and aftercare.
The theologian is keen to emphasise: “Assisted suicide does not relieve us as a society of the responsibility to be effective in a preventative sense. On the contrary: precisely because this option now exists, information about alternatives must be provided with particular care – without pressure, without patronising, but also without indifference. It is crucial that people in extreme life situations do not feel they are being left alone.”
The topic of assisted suicide was also recently addressed at the 10th Seggau Talks on State and Church 2026, which celebrated their 20th anniversary this year. Anyone wishing to explore this and other socially contentious issues in greater depth can do so on the Master’s programme in ‘Applied Ethics’.