| Linda 2005-06-18, 10:53 pm |
| From: werner-f...@gmx.de (Werner-Fuss-Zentrum)
Newsgroups: sci.med.psychobiology
Subject: Breaking News - German doctors abandon psychiatrists
Date: 14 Jan 2005 11:42:54 -0800
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 19:42:54 +0000 (UTC)
Germany about to make advance directives binding by law!
Where Germany was once at the forefront regarding crimes against
humanity, it now seems to lead with the social dismantling of medical
coercion: Soon all medical advanced directives (proposed by Thomas Szasz
in 1982 as a "Psychiatric Will") will be legally binding, even if the
person can no longer express him/herself, is unable to consent, has no
illness insight or is considered incompetent, as long as active killing
is not requested. Custodians or persons authorized by a representation
agreement will by law have to execute the individual's previously
formulated will. Each coerced diagnosis against such a directive would
become a violation of the fundamental rights of informal
self-determination, psychiatric incarceration becomes a sanctioned
deprivation of liberty, any coercive treatment would be a bodily injury,
indeed torture. In my opinion, the further development of such
legislation throughout the European Union can hardly be stopped.
The new law was proposed in November 2004 by the minister of justice of
the Federal Government, Brigitte Zypries. It initiated an immediate
controversy. The new law is being discussed, especially on the issue of
a dignified form of dying but nevertheless logically and explicitly it
will be valid also for non terminal illnesses. Here is the key argument:
Suicide assistance is punishable by law in Germany, so the opponents of
the new law tried to insinuate that the new legislation would be a kind
of physician assisted suicide. But the fact is that patients die from an
illness instead of being "killed" by "negligence" according to an
advance directive requesting non treatment. Using this wrong argument
put the opponents on the defence.
In this situation, the president of the German Chamber of Doctors, Dr.
Joerg-Dietrich Hoppe made an interview reported here (of course in
German):
http://de.news.yahoo.com/041231/12/4cvb9.html
He states his firm support for the proposed law, where of course no
exception for psychiatric advanced directives is mentioned. So the
German doctors representation agreed to the principle of informed
consent and forswear medical force and coercion. By doing so, they
abandoned the psychiatrists who regularly and systematically make use of
them. Of course this does not immediately outrule the German mental
health acts but - and this is decisive - it lays the legal grounds for a
definite opting out. Advance directives will be constitutionally
supported as part of human dignity and self-determination (Art. 1 of the
German Constitution). It is solely at the discretion of the individual
to opt out of any psychiatric label. The consequence is that as soon as
a significant number of people have made this decision to opt out, only
those who want to be "mentally ill" can be diagnosed as such. This fact
contradicts completely the criterion of objectivity of an illness. In
modern medicine an illness does not exist only on the basis of a
person's declaration and/or wish to be ill. (This fact explains why the
psychiatrists sliced the brains of people they murdered, lobotomized and
electroshocked others, speak about chemicals such as Dopotamin and
fantasize about psychiatric genetics - all the well known evil of
psychiatrists, in order to legitimize their cruelties as medical
practice and themselves as doctors.) So in Germany it is quite sure that
we have succeeded in expanding from a loophole of a representation
agreement without psychiatric exception (as in British Columbia law) to
a watershed to sink the psychiatric Titanic.
The next steps in the legislative procedure:
Surprise, surprise, we the "Lunatic Offensive", are kindly requested by
the Federal Minister of Justice to send her our expert opinion by the
end of the month. So after 25 years of existence and radical opposition,
we are officially recognized as experts and honoured in delivering our
statement on such an important subject. :-) :-) :-)
As now the organization of doctors have changed sides, a majority for
this new law is certain, even if the parliament will vote in about half
a year without any party related preference. Only the little liberal
party (with 7% of the seats) is completely in favour. All other members
of parliament will vote only according to their conviction.
Werner-Fuss Zentrum
Scharnweberstr. 29
10247 Berlin
http://www.psychiatrie-erfahrene.de
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