ASCIRS: a critical incidence reporting platform for Assisted Suicide in Austria

Stefanie Kirchner, Angelika Feichtner, Angelina Falkner, Dietmar Weixler, Viktoria Wentseis, Eva Masel, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, Gudrun Kreye

Introduction

Since January 2022, Assisted Suicide (AS) is legal in Austria. The law has been established, but there is a lack of information on practical aspects on this topic for medical staff and for persons who want to get assistance to perform AS. The Austrian Association for Palliative Care (OPG) established a platform in May 2022 called ASCIRS. This Assisted Suicide Critical Incidence Reporting System allows persons that have been confronted with AS to report their experiences on an online platform. Evaluation of reports of this platform could help to identify structural issues related to AS and could further help to discuss ethical dilemmas.

Methods

Literature research about the current situation of AS in Austria was performed. In addition, a quantitative analysis of the ASCIRS-data was performed.

Results:

Eighty-six reports on the ASCIRS platform described requests for AS. 51 women, 32 men and one diverse person were described in these reports. Age was between 40 and 97 years. Most patients suffered from cancer or neurological diseases. Lack of symptom control was the reason for request of AS in more than 50% of these patients.

Zusammenfassung:

The ASCIRS platform offers a voice to people who have been exposed to AS. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations could lead to ethical considerations and discussions to improve the current situation in Austria.

Keywords: Assisted suicide, ASCIRS platform, ethical aspects, euthanasia, euthanasia law

• - Palliativmedizin
• - Palliativpflege
• - Pallliativsozalarbeit
• - Pallliativpsychologie und -psychotherapie
• - Ethik in Palliativ Care
• - Rechtswissenschaften