God

Ferdinand von Schirach, *


* (God,


) A play

Mrs. Gärtner has only one wish left: she wants to die! Her beloved husband died of cancer years ago, and life no longer makes any sense to her anyway. She is denied access to a medication that would allow her to die on her own terms. Now her case is to be decided in principle by the Ethics Council. Legal, medical, and theological experts argue passionately over the question: Does a person have the right to die on their own terms? Are doctors allowed to assist in suicide? And to whom do our lives actually belong? To us? To the state? To God? How do we want to live? And how do we want to die? The desire to leave this world painlessly in familiar surroundings—we all know it. But how often does it come true? What can we hope for? We want to die with dignity. But illness, accidents, wars, hunger, despair—biological or external factors can rob us of the dignity we hope for in our final hours. But what if we could decide for ourselves how our lives end?