ArticlePloS one2026
Providers of and participants in suicide assistance in Germany: A field description based on expert interviews.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOver the past 20 years, assisted dying practices have been legalised in an increasing number of countries around the world. After a decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court in 2020, suicide assistance is unregulated in Germany but official data about the implementation of suicide assistance is lacking.
aimThis study aims to explore the providers of and participants in suicide assistance in Germany.
methods16 semi-structured qualitative expert interviews were conducted with scientists, officials, journalists and members of right-to-die organisations between May and July 2025. Experts were chosen due to their extensive theoretical and practical knowledge of the practice of assisted suicide in Germany. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using qualitative content analysis, according to Mayring.
resultsA total of five main providers and participants involved in the practice of assisted suicide in Germany were identified: 1) right-to-die organisations, 2) medical and non-medical suicide assistants, 3) treating physicians, 4) funeral directors and 5) relatives and friends. Right-to-die organisations and suicide assistants from various professions regularly provide suicide assistance and carry out all relevant tasks, including the provision of information, organisation, implementation and documentation. Treating physicians, funeral directors, relatives and friends may be asked to provide suicide assistance in individual cases and take on specific tasks. Other healthcare professionals (e.g., nurses, pharmacists) and professional groups (e.g., police officers, prosecutors) may also be confronted with suicide assistance and become involved in the process. DISCUSSION: Given the minimal regulation of assisted suicide in Germany, the landscape of providers and supporters appears to be diversifying and growing increasingly complex. Future research should examine the roles, experiences, challenges and best practices of the various actors involved in the provision of assisted suicide.
trial registrationThe study was prospectively registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (Deutsches Register Klinischer Studien) under Registration N° DRKS00034574, on 04 July 2024. It is also searchable via the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform Search Portal of the World Health Organization, under the same registration number.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.