Report laments inadequate emergency care

Report laments insufficient emergency care

In the case of emergency care in Germany, there are reportedly numerous issues according to a study. This leads to the "systemic" death of people every day. The authors identify a specific cause.

The federal and state governments are not fulfilling their mandate to provide emergency care to their citizens adequately. This is the finding of a legal opinion by the Bjoern-Steiger Foundation. The opinion was authored by the former Federal Constitutional Court judge Udo Di Fabio. According to him, there is a lack of a comprehensive and equally equipped, functioning emergency medical services system in Germany. The German emergency medical services are currently in a "system crisis," Di Fabio states in his opinion.

The number of cases in emergency care has risen significantly, and emergency medical services are increasingly being called upon for simple illnesses. Furthermore, vehicles and their equipment, as well as the functionality of dispatch centers, are often inadequate. There are also significant regional quality differences and between urban and rural areas.

Di Fabio identifies the fragmentation of responsibility between the federal and state governments as a significant cause of these deficiencies. From the fundamental right to life and bodily integrity, the state has a protective duty, the constitutional lawyer explains. Therefore, the state is also obligated to provide a functioning emergency medical services system.

Responsible for emergency medical services are currently the federal states - this assignment "is not self-evident," Di Fabio notes. The federal government has a regulatory responsibility, which it is not adequately recognizing. "My opinion encourages him to take on this regulatory responsibility more strongly."

Reform "urgently necessary"

According to the opinion, the federal government could formulate and enforce uniform quality standards for emergency care more strongly. After all, all people in Germany have a claim to the same care. It's about human lives and "the preservation of an important, supporting infrastructure," Di Fabio said at the presentation.

The Bjoern Steiger Foundation was founded in 1969 and has since worked to improve emergency medical services in Germany. Foundation President Pierre-Enric Steiger sees the situation as "far behind" in the international comparison. Its condition is "so precarious that we can say that in Germany, people are dying every day due to systemic reasons." He asked Di Fabio to assess whether the political action here is still constitutionally compliant.

"We hope and demand that politics now draws the right conclusions and reacts accordingly," Steiger emphasized. A "complete political turnaround for emergency medical services" is "urgently necessary," also stated Green health politician Janosch Dahmen at the presentation of the opinion. The former rescue medic Dahmen highlighted the Wednesday cabinet decision on the reform of emergency care in this context. It is a "great concern" of his that the opinion be taken into account in upcoming parliamentary deliberations on the law.

Despite the increasing demand for emergency medical services due to rising cases and simple illnesses, the current system is in a "system crisis." The fragmentation of responsibility between the federal and state governments is identified as a significant cause of these deficiencies, leading to significant regional quality differences and inadequate resources in rural areas.

Following the legal opinion by Udo Di Fabio, Janosch Dahmen, a Green health politician, calls for a "complete political turnaround for emergency medical services," considering it "urgently necessary." He also expresses concern that the opinion should be taken into account in upcoming parliamentary deliberations on the law, referring to the recent cabinet decision on the reform of emergency care.