That Federal Government has rejected medicines commissioner Hendrik Streeck’s (CDU) statement that certain expensive medicines should no longer be given to elderly people. Deputy government spokesman Steffen Meyer said it was natural for Streeck to make his own suggestions. But he must also be aware of the responsibilities of his office. It’s best to prepare certain topics well in advance.
The CDU politician’s statement is not the position of the federal government or the Federal Ministry of Health, Meyer said. A Ministry of Health spokesperson said: “This goal was not achieved by the ministry.”
“Ethically untenable”
Streeck was on a talk show Freedom of expression from the Welt TV channel questioned whether very elderly people should receive such expensive treatment. Clearer guidelines are needed for self-administration when administering medication taking into account general health costs. “There are phases in life where you can no longer just use certain drugs,” Streeck said. As an example, the doctor referred to the expensive cancer treatment of a 100-year-old child and the experiences he underwent in the last phase of his father’s life.
Streeck’s remarks sparked outrage. Former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) shouted loudly Daily Mirror Age rationing of expensive drugs is “ethically untenable and unnecessary.”
The German Patient Protection Foundation also reacted angrily: “Everyone has a legal right to the best supply of medicines. Whether this is maximal or palliative therapy depends on the offer and the wishes of the patient. Cost and age should not be exclusionary criteria,” said board member Eugen Brysch. Rather than causing social unrest, the commissioner should concentrate on his primary task of fighting drugs, Brysch added.
“This affects social cohesion”
Left groups also reacted with criticism. “The mental games of CDU health politicians are simply shameful,” said the head of the left-wing faction, Sören Pellmann. Rhenish Post. “Opening this debate further weakens social cohesion. Streeck should explain his proposal: In his view, at what age should a life no longer be worth protecting – starting at 85, 90, 95?”
Pellmann criticized the fact that poor people died much earlier on average than rich people. “And now they shouldn’t receive life-prolonging therapies either?” said the group leader. In his view, it would make more sense to “limit the prices of new drugs, which have continued to soar in recent years.”
Streeck clarified the statement
Streeck later clarified his statement. “It’s not about saving, but about saving something: How we can support them responsibly in the final phases of their lives – instead of over-providing food because of the wrong incentives,” he wrote in a guest article for the program. Bonner General-Anzeiger and it Rhenish Post.
In Germany, extending life is still the main goal. “But anyone who has seen very elderly people fighting for their lives in an intensive care unit knows: not everything that is medically possible is also humanely justified,” Streeck wrote.
Older and highly vulnerable people are often “dead-operated” – not out of malicious intent, but because the system provides the wrong incentives. But in cases like this, the patient’s wishes, his dignity, and his peace must be decisive. “Sometimes the greater concern is not doing everything you can,” Streeck wrote.
