Doctors take action against triage rules before the Federal Constitutional Court
The regulations violate the fundamental rights of doctors, explained the Marburger Bund. They violate professional freedom and freedom of conscience. Medical practitioners would be "forced to make borderline decisions that contradict their professional self-image and cause them blatant problems of conscience".
The law stipulates that the decision may only be made according to the current and short-term survival probability of the patients concerned. However, it is contradictory and too imprecise, criticize the complainants, who work in intensive care or emergency medicine.
They also object to the ban on ex-post triage, i.e. doctors being allowed to stop treating one patient in favor of another with a better chance of survival. The Marburger Bund criticized the fact that they are expected to make decisions "in the knowledge that they will not be able to provide intensive medical treatment to patients who arrive later and have a much better chance of survival".
This increases the already high level of stress in such a situation. Doctors would no longer be able to do everything in their power to "save the greatest possible number of people under the difficult circumstances of an extreme shortage of resources".
Both regulations made it impossible to act in accordance with medical principles in a dilemma situation, the report continued. They also caused "considerable legal uncertainty and a significant risk of criminal liability".
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- The Marburger Bund, representing German doctors, filed a complaint against the triage rules at the Federal Constitutional Court in Berlin, arguing that they infringe upon doctors' fundamental rights.
- Prior to this, the Medical Association had drawn attention to the implications of the rules, which they believe would force doctors to make morally questionable decisions, against their professional code and conscience.
- Doctors in intensive care or emergency medicine, who are the main complainants, dispute the legality of the ban on ex-post triage, a practice that allows doctors to prioritize patients with a higher survival chance if resources are limited.
- The Marburger Bund advocates for the right to adhere to medical principles even in dilemma situations and expresses concerns about the potential legal consequences for doctors if they struggle to comply with the triage rules.
Source: www.stern.de
