The debate around end-of-life and assisted suicide legalization stirs consciences in Austria. A recent interview in which the journalist and writer Nikolaus Glattauer publicly announced plans to end his life with assisted suicide – which he later did – received widespread coverage in the Austrian media and sparked a debate involving ethics, faith, social welfare and public policy. The debate on this issue, which is not exclusive to Austria, is currently at the heart of public discourse. In Italy too, following regional laws passed in Tuscany and Sardinia, the issue can no longer be dismissed as a matter of personal choice. Suicide prevention experts and the media have criticised the way the interview was presented in the daily newspaper Falter and on the news portal Newsflix. Several complaints have also led the Austrian Press Council to criticise the interview for lacking balance and failing to consider alternatives, such as accompanying the patient at a decisive moment in their life or palliative medicine. Despite the steady increase in hospices for terminally ill patients throughout Austria, these scenarios were ignored.
Austrian public opinion expressed strong criticism of the way in which the news outlets that published the interview created a sense of heightened suspense and anticipation for Glattauer’s death with a view to increasing readership and hits to their websites.
“Assisted suicide” was legalised in Austria in 2022 and is subject to specific regulatory restrictions. To date, the number of people who are known to have undergone assisted suicide is unconfirmed. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, 772 enforcement orders had been issued throughout Austria by 1 September 2025, since the law took effect. Of these, pharmacies delivered 636 lethal drugs, 99 of which were returned.
One of the most critical voices was that of Susanne Kummer, a bioethicist and the director of the Institute of Medical Anthropology and Bioethics (IMABE) who condemned the media’s portrayal of assisted suicide as a “courageous decision” Kummer questioned the portrayal of suicide as a dignified death, asking what terminally ill cancer patients or people with incurable diseases might feel when reading positive descriptions of suicide.
Kummer pointed out that the reportage “risks conveying the idea that only assisted suicide offers a dignified death”.
Regarding the interview with the writer who chose to end his life, Kummer criticised the lack of consideration given to alternative palliative treatment, stating: “I would have liked to see a cover story in Falter on dignified death in palliative care — five pages long, with a corresponding YouTube video and content shared on all social media platforms.” Doris Helmberger-Fleckl, the editor-in-chief of the Catholic weekly Die Furche, likewise criticised the timing of the publication, saying that it left readers shaken, evoking a mixture of admiration and horror. The journalist believes that failure to offer more options has in fact sidelined other forms of assisted death, such as in hospices.
Psychiatrist and psychotherapist Thomas Kapitany, director of the Kriseninterventionszentrums Wien (Crisis Intervention Centre Vienna), expressed concern about the potential social impact of publicising assisted suicide: making it more visible risks conveying the message that “this is the answer to the fear of dying”. Kapitany believes that “failing to consider the wide range of social and economic pressures that elderly people and those in need of care may face is a serious oversight”. Unfortunately, it cannot be denied that this is one possible reason why women choose assisted suicide more often than men.” In an interview with the social editorial team of Austria’s ecclesiastical publications, moral theologian Angelika Walser and Christof Eisl, general director of the Hospice Movement in Salzburg, emphasised the importance of raising awareness of the various end-of-life options. While the two experts do not entirely condemn the fact that Glattauer has broken the taboo of talking publicly about his planned suicide, they do have concerns. They acknowledge that this has sparked an open debate on death and dying with dignity, but also point out that media coverage may encourage vulnerable individuals to consider suicide as an option.
For this very reason, Walser believes that changing the narrative is essential. “There are ways to face death with dignity without resorting to suicide”.
On this subject, Eisl also warned against polarisation and the possible idealisation of individual cases publicised by the media. The expert pointed out that palliative care is not focused on illness or the prospect of death; it is centred on the whole person and their physical, mental, social, and spiritual needs. In fact, says Eisl, those who are bereaved by anxiety and physical and mental pain often find a new quality of life in a hospice. Experiences in Austria and abroad show that, for many people, the desire to die is reduced when suffering is alleviated, human and family relationships are fostered, and self-determination is preserved. In this respect, the two experts call for “silent narratives” — drawn from the experiences of hospice patients and their families — to play a greater role in public communication, even if they do not make the headlines. The fact that most people in Austria are unaware of the increasing number of pain management clinics, day hospices, mobile assistance groups for home care, and palliative care and temporary hospitalisation services, all of which are free and fully covered by health insurance, signals an urgent need for more information.
Johann Platzer, a theologian and ethicist at the University of Graz, argues that Glattauer’s decision to end his life deserves respect, just as his life story and his desire to be heard deserve understanding and consideration. However, Platzer warns that the media’s treatment of the story can have a negative impact on vulnerable individuals, since emotionally charged interviews and articles risk simplifying, dramatising or trivialising the reality of the situation. Platzer warns of the dangers of imitation when the media portrays assisted suicide as an acceptable option: “We may understand why someone, suffering greatly, feels there is no way out and wants to end their own life. But a supportive society has a duty to help them live.” Furthermore, the focus should be on the most vulnerable social groups.
According to the Graz expert, the problem is that “until now, there was a general consensus in our society that suicide should be prevented. Now, however, a process could be set in motion that would lead to the right to assisted suicide becoming an inherent right. This could result in a loss of solidarity with the most vulnerable members of society.”
