Uwe-Christian Arnold

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Uwe-Christian Arnold (* 1944 in Berlin ; † April 12, 2019 there ) was a German doctor and "Germany's most famous euthanasia ".

Life

After graduating from high school, Uwe-Christian Arnold studied medicine in Berlin and received his license to practice medicine in 1973. He then became a specialist in urology and worked in his own practice from 1980 to 2000. After a long and severe cancer he killed himself on April 12, 2019 itself . Arnold was socially engaged, including on the advisory board of the evolutionary-humanistic Giordano Bruno Foundation .

Act

Uwe-Christian Arnold became known nationwide when he dealt with the subject of self-determination at the end of life and humane euthanasia from the mid-1990s. According to Tagesspiegel , he attached great importance to not simply opening up a quick solution to people with suicidal thoughts, but rather advising them. That could mean finding a way out other than suicide. According to his own statements, Arnold accompanied more than 500 seriously ill people who wanted to die independently. According to the time he was "Germany's most famous euthanasia".

In 2007 the Berlin Medical Association forbade him to give a patient fatal medication for her intended suicide under threat of a fine of 50,000 euros. In April 2012, Arnold won the lawsuit. The Berlin Administrative Court ruled that the Medical Association should not have issued an unconditional ban on medically assisted suicide. Several lawsuits were brought against Arnold, but according to DW he won all of them.

His work has been widely reported in the media, including in the ARD theme week Leben mit dem Tod in the television documentary You bring death - euthanasia in Germany in December 2012. Arnold was often present in the media, including as a guest on the talk shows Günther Jauch and hard but fair .

In 2014 he published the book last help with Michael Schmidt-Salomon at Rowohlt Verlag . A plea for self-determined death . Arnold significantly supported the civil society campaign For the Right to Last Aid, in which he worked together with well-known personalities such as Ralph Giordano , Bernhard Hoëcker , Ralf König , Gudrun Landgrebe , Fritz J. Raddatz , Udo Reiter and Konstantin Wecker against the criminalization of euthanasia in Form of § 217 StGB introduced by the Bundestag in 2015 .

Arnold, along with other doctors and those affected, was among the complainants against Section 217 of the Criminal Code before the Federal Constitutional Court . He was supposed to present a statement at the hearing on April 16 and 17, 2019 in Karlsruhe. The letter signed by the President of the Federal Constitutional Court, Andreas Voßkuhle, states that it would make sense if “Mr. Uwe-Christian Arnold appears in person and reports on his professional practice. The court is particularly interested in the life situation in which patients express suicide requests and how they are dealt with ”.

On the evening before his death on April 12, 2019, Arnold sent his opinion for the Federal Constitutional Court, which was read out posthumously on the first day of the hearing (April 16, 2019) before the Federal Constitutional Court by his lawyer.

In February 2020, the Federal Constitutional Court declared Section 217 of the Criminal Code to be unconstitutional and void.

Fonts

  • Last help. A plea for self-determined dying (together with Michael Schmidt-Salomon), Rowohlt Verlag, 2014. ISBN 978-3-498-09617-5 .

Web links

  • Portrait (2007) about Arnold in the Tagesspiegel
  • Arnold's opinion for the Federal Constitutional Court of April 11, 2019

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Evelyn Finger: "We doctors are there for life. But dying is part of life". DIE ZEIT, December 4, 2014, accessed on April 20, 2020 .
  2. ^ Arnold, Uwe-Christian. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Hartmut Wewetzer: I see myself as a champion. June 19, 2007, accessed April 18, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Evelyn Finger interviews Uwe-Christian Arnold: Uwe-Christian Arnold: “There is a right to last aid”. DIE ZEIT, February 26, 2020, accessed on April 18, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Court ruling: Doctor may hand over lethal medication. Retrieved on April 18, 2020 (German).
  6. ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Euthanasia ban will be relaxed | DW | 02/26/2020. Retrieved on April 19, 2020 (German).
  7. ↑ They bring death - assistants in Germany. ARD, available via YouTube, December 22, 2012, accessed on April 18, 2020 .
  8. ↑ program ARD de-ARD Play-Out-Center Potsdam, Potsdam Germany: They bring death - assistants in Germany. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Oliver Tolmein: TV review "Jauch": Dying when the doctor helps? In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed April 18, 2020]).
  10. ↑ “Hard but fair” discusses euthanasia: “In Bielefeld yes, in Wuppertal no”. In: RP ONLINE. Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
  11. ^ Arnold, Last Help (hardcover). Retrieved April 18, 2020 .
  12. ↑ Euthanasia - My end is mine! - SUPPORTER. Retrieved on April 18, 2020 (German).
  13. ↑ Euthanasia - My end is mine! Retrieved on April 18, 2020 (German).
  14. ^ Gita Neumann: Uwe-Christian Arnold: His legacy and the urn celebration. hpd, April 16, 2020, accessed April 18, 2020 .
  15. ↑ Uwe-Christian Arnold: Statement for the Federal Constitutional Court "Please do not close your eyes to reality!" hpd, April 11, 2019, accessed April 19, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Salomon: A death helper who loved life. hpd, April 13, 2019, accessed April 18, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Federal Constitutional Court - Press - Prohibition of commercial promotion of suicide unconstitutional. February 26, 2020, accessed April 18, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Arnold, Uwe-Christian
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and euthanasia
DATE OF BIRTH 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 12, 2019
Place of death Berlin