[Free responsibility of the decision for an assisted suicide]

The verdict of the German Federal Constitutional Court on assisted suicide has led to lively debates in the medical world, in the German Federal Parliament and the civil society. In the conception of the German Federal Constitutional Court the determination of free responsibility is of central importance for a protection concept that aims to minimize an uncontrolled assistance to suicide; however, the forensic aspects of this task need to be substantiated. This article comments on this from a psychiatric aspect in order to include the perspective of our discipline in the progression of the discussion.